fe-^^ 


*-- 


:?!^:5 


ii-.-.^ 


"^i::^ 

%^-? 

» 

*,> 

'.'V 

■', 

^7/r 


K  ri 


-^    (  ^/Yr^^ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


Class 


Book 


%^'^   QSe'b^tie 


Volume 

1 


My  08-15M 


■wau 


K 


i 


DE     LISLE; 


OR, 


THE    SENSITIVE    MAN. 


IN  THREE  VOLUMES. 


VOL.  I. 


LONDON: 

EDWARD   BULL,   HOLLES   STREET 

1828. 


ERRATA. 

.,  Page  24,  line  8,  for  knitting  read  knotti7ig. 
90,  —    2,  for  allusion  read  illusion. 


LONDON 
PRINTED    BY    S.    AND    R.    BENTLEY,    DORSET    STREET. 


?a3  ■ 


DE    LISLE. 


CHAPTER  I. 


*'  Well,  but  hear  me,  Hubert,^'  said  Lady 
De  Lisle  in  her  most  conciliating  accent ;  "  only 
hear  what  I  have  to  say,  before  you  decide 
on  this  sudden  journey."" 

"  The  journey  is  not  sudden,  Madam,"  said 
her  son,  with  a  look  and  manner  that  seemed  to 
defy  alike  persuasion  or  argument.  ''I  always 
told  you  I  should  spend  two  years,  previous 
to  my  coming  of  age,  in  travelling :  I  was  nine- 
teen last  month,  and  so  have  no  time  to  lose." 

'*  As  you  please,  Sir,"  said  Lady  De  Lisle, 
and  turned  from  him  with  an  air  of  haughty 
displeasure.  At  the  door  she  stopped ;  and  her 
son,  half  smiling  to  see  how  soon  she  relented, 
almost   started    at   the  cold,    determined   tone 

VOL,    I.  B 


)S503X 


S  DE    LISLE. 

in  which  she  added,  "  Do  not  be  deceived  by 
others,   Hubert,   or  strive  to  deceive  yourself. 
I  will  not  reward  those  who  thwart  me,  or  think 
of  those  who  think  but  of  themselves.     My  son 
you  must  be, — my  heir  you  need  not  be !"  and 
with  this  threat,  often  before  implied,  but  never 
so  explicitly  mentioned,  Lady  De  Lisle  left  her 
headstrong   boy  to   his  own  reflections.     They 
were  none  of  the  most  exhilarating.     Young  De 
Lisle  had  no  idea  of  giving  up  his  plan,  for 
when  had  he  ever  given  up  what  he  had   said 
he  would  do  ?     Yet  he  began  to  hate  it  very 
cordially.     It  had  become  irksome  to  him  be- 
fore this  contest  with  his  mother,  and  he  could 
not  help  thinking  it  was  very  great  folly  to  risk 
losing  a  splendid  income,  merely  for  the  plea- 
sure of  getting  the  better  of  her.     Then  returned 
the  recollection  of  his  former  reasons. 

His  father.  Sir  Francis,  a  cheerful,  hospi- 
table, pleasing  man  in  society,  had,  from  a 
certain  facility  of  temper,  love  of  ease,  and 
mental  cowardice,  long  been  quoted  as  the 
tamest  of  husbands  and  most  inefficient  of  mas- 
ters. His  lady's  will  was  law.  She  began 
with  infinite  art,  for  she  was  a  cunning,  though 
not  a  clever  woman,  and  veiled  her  encroach- 
ments on  her  husband's  prerogative  beneath  so 


DE    LISLE.  3 

many  specious  coverings,  that  the  poor  man 
found  himself  entirely  fettered  and  subjugated 
before  he  discovered  her  drift.  Time  did  but 
rivet  chains  more  firmly  he  had  wanted  reso- 
lution to  throw  off  at  first ;  and  the  earliest  days 
of  Hubert  were  full  of  reminiscences  of  his 
father's  slavery,  and  his  earliest  resolutions  were 
against  such  a  system  ever  extending  to  himself. 

Lady  De  Lisle,  in  order  to  establish  her  in- 
fluence with  her  son,  was  at  great  pains  to 
impress  him  with  ideas  of  her  own  consequence. 
It  answered  in  part ;  Hubert  thought  there 
was  no  family  pedigree  like  his,  no  house  so 
splendid,  no  county  so  salubrious.  He  had 
besides  a  high  opinion  of  his  mother's  talents, 
he  admired  her  manners,  and  even  her  beauty, 
for  she  was  in  the  prime  of  life.  Nay,  though 
he  himself  despised  his  father,  he  had  no  idea 
any  one  else  could  be  so  impertinent,  and  never 
would  have  pardoned  a  word  spoken  in  derision 
of  him. 

There  is  often  in  early  youth,  when  all  the 
feelings  are  unblunted  and  new,  a  quickness 
of  perception  that  stands  in  lieu  of  reflection 
and  calculation.  Thus,  all  De  Lisle's  companions 
felt  by  intuition  that  such  a  topic  was  to  be 
avoided  with  him.    They  stopped  not  to  inquire 

B  2 


*  DE    LISLE. 

whether  it  was  guarded  by  pride,  or  made  sacred 
by  affection ;  it  was  enough  for  them  that  it 
must  not  be  touched. 

In   lonely    uncommunicated    feeling    passed 
the  first  nineteen  years  of  Hubert's  life.      To 
escape  from   the  Egyptian   bondage   in    which 
his  father  was  held,  was  his  thought  by  day, 
and  his  dream  by  night.     It  seemed  ungracious 
always  to  oppose  a  mother,   who  not  only  ca- 
ressed but  courted  him,  yet  scarcely   did   he 
ever  accede  to  her  slightest  wish  without  fear- 
ing that  some  advantage  would  be  taken  of  it 
greater  than  at  the  moment  was  discernible  to 
any  but  Lady  De  Lisle  herself.     Hubert,   by- 
nature    frank,    generous,     and    highly   gifted, 
might   under  other   auspices   have  become  an 
amiable  and  happy   man.     As   it  was,  he  was 
neither.      But  his  parents   saw  few   faults   in 
their  only  child,    and  of  course  none  in  their 
mode  of  educating  him.     Had  he  not  been  sent 
to  the  best  schools,  and  when  at  home  had  he 
been  denied  any  thing?     It  is  true,  he  did  not 
in  that  respect  try  their  patience  much,  for  he 
Avas    moderate    in   his   wishes ;    and   could   he 
but    go  his  own  way  unquestioned,  and  throw 
his    pocket-money  to    the  right    and    the   left, 
without  having  to  account  for  it,  he  gave  no 


DE    LISLE. 


trouble,  and  got  into  no  scrapes.  Besides,  his 
masters  applauded  his  diligence,  his  equals 
loved  his  social  qualities,  his  dependants  bore 
testimony  to  his  gentleness  and  patience. 

Hearing  his  praises  every  where.  Sir  Francis 
and  Lady  De  Lisle  strove  not  to  see  that  at 
home  he  was  cold  and  unbending,  engrossed  with 
any  thing  but  what  occupied  them,  and  betray- 
ing at  times,  when  .  thrown  ofF  his  guard,  the 
most  unqualified  contempt  for  every  living  thing. 
The  worthy  Baronet  was  chilled  and  astonished, 
but  his  wife  merely  observed  that  young  persons 
were  usually  proud  of  their  talents,  and  eager 
to  show  them  in  the  easiest  possible  way,  general 
sarcasm.  "  When  Hubert,"  she  would  say, 
"  makes  the  discovery  that  every  fool  can  find 
fault,  he  will  change  his  tone." 

Lady  De  Lisle  did  not  see  that  her  son's 
sarcastic  turn  was  not  a  merry  devil,  elicited 
by  wild  and  boyish  conversation,  but,  in  truth, 
the  overflowings  of  a  bitter  spirit.  Young, 
well-looking,  full  of  health  and  vigour,  mental 
and  bodily,  the  head  of  an  old  family,  and  the 
heir  to  great  wealth,  every  material  for  happi- 
ness seemed  within  his  reach ;  and  his  mother 
naturally  concluded  that  he  was  happy.  If 
sometimes  he  disappointed  her,  in  general  she 


DE    LISLE. 


was  proud  of  him,  and  of  the  consequence  that 
having  such  a  son  to  marry  gave  her  in  the 
neighbourhood.  Besides,  she  loved  him,  but 
she  loved  power  more;  and  she  thought  she 
saw  in  this  wish  to  go  abroad  a  plan  of  eman- 
cipation she  could  ill  brook.  She  had  been 
an  heiress ;  and  though  the  sum  actually  settled 
upon  herself  was  not  very  considerable,  Sir 
Francis  would  have  thought  he  was  doing  a 
dishonest  thing  in  leaving  the  money  that  had 
been  her*s  in  any  way  that  did  not  meet  with 
her  full  concurrence. 

This  Hubert  knew,  and  that  it  was  no 
idle  boast  of  his  mother's  that  had  concluded 
their  conversation.  He  did  not  believe,  indeed, 
that  her  pride  would  suffer  her  to  alienate  any 
part  of  her  property.  She  knew  well  the  ad- 
vantages of  wealth ;  and  that  her  son  should 
be  one  of  the  richest  commoners  in  England, 
had  long  been  the  object  of  her  ambition. 
That  he  should  eventually,  therefore,  have 
more  money  than  he  well  knew  how  to  spend, 
young  De  Lisle  never  doubted ;  but  just  then 
he  might  have  none  at  all ;  and  though  not  of 
very  ancient  date,  he  was  old  enough  to  be  aware 
that  post-horses  are  things  not  to  be  paid  by 


DE    LISLE.  7 

promises ;  and  that,  in  truth,  the  very  sinews 
of  his  enterprise  were  thus  cracked  asunder. 
Hubert  resolved,  and  re-resolved,  then  start- 
ing from  a  long  and  not  very  pleasant  reverie, 
determined  to  fix  on  nothing  till  he  had  spoken 
to  Sir  Francis. 

That  he  should,  in  fact,  by  this  means  only 
hear  his  mother's  sentiments  modified  by  his 
father's  placid  temper,  no  one  knew  better 
than  himself;  and  it  cost  his  proud  soul  a  strug- 
gle, thus  to  force  himself  to  ask  for  that  which 
would  be  refused  him.  But  Hubert  had  a 
great  reverence  for  justice,  though  his  notions 
of  it  were  not  always  as  accurate  as  he 
thought  them,  and  he  judged  it  unfair  to 
take  any  sentiment  or  action  of  another  for 
granted.  Prove  them,  and  let  them  abide 
by  the  test,  was  what  De  Lisle  both  preached 
and  practised ;  and,  in  conformity  to  this  tenet, 
he  now  sought  his  father,  to  hear  from  his  own 
lips  the  objections  to  his  proposed  tour. 

Sir  Francis  had  many:  he  did  not  like  to 
lose  sight  of  his  son,  he  thought  him  too  young 
to  travel  to  any  purpose,  and  as  he  meant  him 
when  of  age  to  try  his  strength  in  the  county, 
with  a  view  to  representing  it  in  Parliament, 


8  DE    LISLE. 

he  was  solicitous  that  he  should  live  amongst 
his  future  constituents,  and  "  buy  golden  opi- 
nions from  all  manner  of  men." 

Hubert  entered  into  all  his  father's  reasons, 
and  refuted  them  one  by  one,  with  as  much 
patience  as  if  he  had  thought  it  would  be  to 
any  purpose;  and  poor  Sir  Francis,  wko  was 
soon  aground  in  argument,  was  obliged  to  con- 
clude with  "  Well,  Hubert,  my  boy,  it  does  not 
signify  talking.  Lady  De  Lisle  will  never  hear  of 
it,  so  we  had  better  say  no  more  just  now." 

"  Is  it  ever  your  intention.  Sir,  that  I  should 
travel?"   asked  Hubert. 

"  Surely,  my  dear  son,  some  time  or  other." 

"  When  I  am  in  Parliament,  I  suppose  ?  Run 
over  to  Paris  during  a  recess,  for  example,  and 
take  my  mother  with  me  as  a  travelling  tutor  !" 
rejoined  Hubert  with  a  sarcastic  haughtiness 
not  unusual  to  him. 

Even  the  meek  Sir  Francis  was  fretted,  for 
who  can  stand  ridicule  ?  He  stirred  the  fire 
accordingly,  which  was  the  symptom  that  inva- 
riably betrayed  his  choler,  and  as  before  the 
coal  was  v/ell  broken,  his  testiness  was  always 
appeased,  it  may  be  a  hint  worth  attending  to, 
and  might  possibly  answer  by  way  of  nostrum, 
or  calment,  to  those  who  have  hitherto  not  suf- 


DE    LISLE.  9 

fered  the  ebullitions  of  their  wrath  to  subside 
so  quickly,  all  for  want  of  knowing  the  virtue 
residing  in  a  poker  ! 

Hubert,  to  whom  the  sign  was  familiar, 
watched  the  operation  in  silence,  not  unmixed 
with  regret  at  having  excited  uneasy  feelings 
in  the  breast  of  the  kind  Baronet.  He  sought 
to  atone  for  it  by  a  gentler  speech,  and  Sir 
Francis,  the  most  placable  of  men,  only  won- 
dered he  could  have  felt  angry  with  his  dear 
boy,  who  did  but  want  to  do  like  other  youths 
— very  natural  too,  that  he  should,  and  a  great 
pity  his  mother  did  not  like  it !  So  far  reached 
the  cogitations  of  Sir  Francis,  but  no  farther : 
and  Hubert  retired  from  his  presence,  to  think 
over  plans  that  would  as  effectually  take  him 
out  of  his  mother's  reach,  as  the  foreign  tour 
could  have  done ;  and  not  quite  certain  that 
patience  and  economy  would  not  bring  even  his 
first  plan  to  bear. 


155 


10  J)E    LISLE. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Whilst  young  De  Lisle,  wrapped  up  in  his 
own  consequence,  and  his  deep-rooted  notions 
of  independence,  was  to-day  making  some  ar- 
rangement that  to-morrow  saw  unmade;  and, 
like  many  a  wiser  man,  lost  in  anticipations  of 
the  future,  was  forgetting  to  enjoy  the  present ; 
— time  brought  events  to  pass,  which  no  cogi- 
tations of  his  could  either  accelerate  or  retard. 
His  paternal  uncle  died,  and  left  him  the  small 
younger  brother's  portion,  on  which  he  had 
himself  lived. 

-  As  De  Lisle  was  not  of  age,  difficulties  arose 
about  the  payment  of  the  money,  but  it  was 
not  difficult  to  raise  some  for  immediate  use ; 
so  that,  in  fact,  he  derived  from  the  will  all  the 
benefit  he  wanted.  That  he  was  cheated  through 
the  whole  transaction  was  indeed  evident ;  and  he 
felt  it  with  more  bitterness,  than  in  a  person  so 
reckless  of  money  appeared  altogether  natural. 


DE    LISLE.  11 

It  seemed  his  fate  always  to  see  human  na- 
ture in  its  worst  point  of  view :  the  idea  once 
caught,  seized  upon  his  imagination ;  he  turned 
to  it  upon  all  occasions,  and  the  scoffing  fiend 
welcomed  him  each  time  with  more  cruel  mock- 
ery than  before. 

The  instances  of  management  and  deceit  that 
had  shocked  his  childhood,  were  traced,  or  fan- 
cied, in  every  other  family,  as  he  advanced  to 
manhood.     Believing  that  every  one  in  this  life 
must   either   deceive  others,  or  be  himself  de- 
ceived, he  went  about  among  his  fellows,  arm- 
ed, impenetrable,  and  inflicting  on  himself  more 
pangs  than  a  host  of  enemies  could  have  suc- 
ceeded in  fastening  upon  him.      Too  generous 
and  high-minded  not  to  scorn  deceit    himself, 
he  was  too  vain  to  think  with  patience  of  being 
a  dupe.     Sad  in  solitude,  (for  what  noble  spirit 
but  mourns  over  the  depravity  of  others  ?)  and 
constrained  in  societv,  his   existence  was  more 
irksome  than  could  well  be  imagined  by  those 
who  only  saw  his  outward  situation. 

As  no  man  can  always  adhere  to  a  system, 
be  it  good  or  bad,  De  Lisle  had  occasional 
glimpses  of  satisfaction,  in  opposition  to  his 
tenets.  He  had  instinctive  pleasures,  for  he 
was  benevolent ;  and  the  first  emotion  is  to  be- 


12  DE    LISLE. 

lieve  you  have  done  good,  and  to  rejoice  in  it ; 
however  you  may  persuade  yourself  hereafter, 
that  the  object  might  be  unworthy,  or  the 
means  inadequate.  The  mere  spirits  of  youth 
and  health  create  an  artificial  enjoyment;  and 
when  you  are  amused  yourself,  you  cease  to  re- 
member how  often  in  others  the  signs  of  mirth 
are  the  veils  in  which  the  proud  and  the  suscep- 
tible conceal  grief  from  the  gaze  of  indifference. 

De  Lisle  was  too  friendly  and  kind  in  essen- 
tial things,  as  well  as  in  acts  of  courtesy,  not  to 
have  many  intimates  who  felt  some  regard  for 
him,  but  he  was  too  cautious  to  have  friends  : 
he  sought  not  the  confidence  he  withheld ;  but 
when  forced  upon  him,  he  never  betrayed  it. 
The  esteem  that  was  felt  for  him  never  bordered 
upon  enthusiasm,  and  when  he  saw  others,  every 
way  his  inferiors,  excite  a  sentiment  approaching 
to  it,  he  could  have  wept  to  think,  that  of  all 
living  things  he  alone  was  unbeloved.  He 
forgot  that  sympathy  is  not  gratuitous,  and  that 
from  his  schoolboy  days  to  the  present  hour 
he  had  laid  no  claim  to  it. 

Distrust  and  caution  are  the  parents  of  irre- 
solution ;  and  Hubert  accordingly  rarely  knew 
what  he  liked  or  wished.  It  would  have  suited 
him  extremely,  to  have  had  some  one  at  his  elbow 


DE    LISLE.  13 

to  inform  him  of  his  own  intentions  and  desires ; 
but  this  would  have  looked  like  influencing  him  ; 
and  from  influence,  as  the  shadow  of  controul, 
his  whole  soul  recoiled.  Alas  I  he  was  reduced 
to  the  sad  necessity  of  forcing  himself  to  wish 
for  something  and  then  forcing  himself  to  get 
it  I  He  had  made  up  his  mind  to  go  abroad, 
and  he  now  tried  to  find  out  where  he  meant  to 
go.  He  was  at  Oxford,  and  the  time  approach- 
ed when  all  but  the  very  studious  were  leaving 
it.  It  was  necessary  to  make  a  speedy  election  ; 
and  so  indifferent  was  he,  that,  but  for  the  ab- 
surdity of  the  thing,  he  would  have  got  into  his 
carriage,  and  said,  "  Drive  me  to  the  coast !" 

In  this  humour  he  sauntered  into  the  apart- . 
ment  of  a  young  man  with  whom  he  spent  much 
of  his  time,  for  the  cogent  reason  that  he  was 
his  near  neighbour.  He  found  Mr.  Clifford 
looking  over  some  highly-finished  coloured 
prints.  De  Lisle  had  a  great  taste  for  drawing, 
and  was  himself  rather  an  adept  in  the  art. 
He  asked  his  friend  if  he  had  any  thing  new 
to  show  him ;  and  the  mournful  tone  in  which 
Cliflbrd  replied  in  the  negative,  roused  his 
dormant  interest.  He  cast  a  glanc^  over  the 
disorderly  table  of  the  young  collegian,  and 
amidst   endless  pamphlets,  papers,   and   maps, 


14     ^  DE    LISLE. 

the  word  "  Spa,"  in  large  letters,  every  where 
met  his  eye. 

"  I  believe  you  are  going  to  Spa,  at  least 
in  your  dreams,"  said  De  Lisle  jokingly. 

"  True,"  replied  Clifford,  "  in  my  dreams ; 
and  I  ought  to  go  in  a  more  effectual  way, 
but  I  do  not  relish  the  idea." 

"  Why  not  ?  it  is  just  the  time  of  the  year 
for  it." 

"  Ay,  fori.a  prince  who  flatters  himself  it  is 
a  retreat ;  for  a  swindler  who  wants  money,  or 
for  an  invalid  who  wants  the  waters ;  but  for 
plain,  quiet,  healthy  Jack  Clifford,  who  wants 
to  be  at  home,  it  is  a  very  bad  time  of  the 
year." 

'*  All  times,  by  your  rule,  would  be  bad.  Have 
you  any  business  that  I  can  transact,  for  I  am 
going  there  ?" 

Clifford  started,  and  a  ray  of  pleasure  gleam- 
ed upon  his  features  ;  but  the  animation  soon 
fled,  and,  as  if  more  dejected  for  having  encou- 
raged a  hope  that  had  vanished,  he  sighed, 
shook  his  head,  and  said  he  must  go  himself. 

"  Shall  we  go  together .?"  asked  De  Lisle. 

"  No,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  his  companion  ; 
"  it  would  be  a  bore  to  you,  for  I  shall  not 
travel  alone." 


DE    LISLE.  15 

"  Oh,  if  that 's  your  mystery,"  said  De  Lisle, 
laughing,  "  I  can't  fancy  why  you  hate  going." 

*'  You  are  quite  out  there  :  I  have  a  mys- 
tery, but  'tis  not  my  journey.  The  truth  is, 
I  was  to  have  been  married  next  week,  but 
the  lawyers  dwadle  so  confoundedly,  it  may 
not  be  this  month.  In  the  mean  time,  my  poor 
sister  is  dying ;  she  is  ordered  to  Spa,  and  to 
Spa  I  must  take  her,  where,  if  she  gets  better,  I 
can  leave  her,  but  if  not  .  .  ."  Clifford  stopped, 
embarrassed  between  the  two  ideas  of  his  sis- 
ter's death  and  the  return  to  his  love,  as  not 
knowing  very  well  which  to  specify.  De  Lisle 
took  no  notice  of  the  pause,  but  asked  if  his 
sister  was  not  married  ? 

"  She  has  been  some  years  a  widow,"  re- 
plied Clifford,  "  has  several  children,  the  eldest 
of  whom  would  accompany  her  abroad,  as 
well  as  her  step-daughter,  a  very  lovely  girl, 
without  whose  care  and  tenderness^  I  believe, 
Mrs.  Talbot  would  not  be  now  alive.  You  see, 
it  will  be  a  strong  family  party,  and  more  than 
you  would  like  to  join." 

De  Lisle  reflected  for  a  moment.  To  offer 
himself  at  twenty,  as  the  chaperon  of  a  lady 
and  her  family,  did  seem  abundantly  absurd. 
At  last,  he  remembered  a  man  of  the  name  of 


16  DE    LISLE. 

Emmerson,  much  older  than  himself,  studious 
and  gentlemanhke,  but  remarked  for  the  strong 
and  unfortunate  propensity  of  being  a  hanger- 
on.  His  contempt  for  the  style  of  thing  had 
made  him  keep  out  of  Mr.  Emmerson's  way ; 
but  he  well  knew  he  would  accompany  him, 
or  any  one  else,  any  where,  if  by  so  doing  he 
could  live  for  a  certain  number  of  months  at 
some  other  person's  charge. 

Two  companions  joining  a  large  party  seem- 
ed to  obviate  all  objections,  and  he  communi- 
cated his  plan  to  CUfford  the  instant  he  had 
formed  it. 

"  But  are  you  sure  you  were  going  to  Spa ; 
that  you  have  time  to  stay  there  till  I  can  bring 
my  wife  over ;  and  that  all  these  women  ailing, 
and  frightened,  and  helpless,  will  not  be  great 
nuisances  to  you-^" 

"  Quite  sure,"  quietly  replied  De  Lisle. 

"  And  I  am  quite  sure/'  said  Clifford  warm- 
ly, "  that  be  all  that  as  it  may,  Emmerson  is 
not  the  companion  you  would  have  chosen, 
except  with  a  view  to  the  comfort  of  others.**' 

"  He  is  chosen,"  said  De  Lisle, — ^"  never 
mind  the  view." 

"  But  I  do  mind,"  cried  Clifford,  holding 
out  his  hand  to  his  friend,  with  a  grateful  look, 


DE    LISLE.  17 

which  the  other  felt,  though  he  scarcely  re- 
turned the  friendly  pressure  ;  "  and  there  are 
others  who  will  mind,  too.  But  you  do  not 
know  my  Mary  ?" 

"  Never  heard  of  her  till  this  hour,"  said  De 
Lisle,  smiling  at  the  lover-like  eagerness  with 
which  Clifford  had  seized  the  idea  that  Mary's 
gratitude  could  repay  any  thing ;  "  but  we  shall 
meet  ere  long,  I  hope,  at  Spa,  with  a  very 
pleasant  preparation  to  an  acquaintance — a 
mutual  good  opinion  of  each  other." 

The  rest  of  the  day  was  spent  by  the  young 
men  in  maturing  their  plans,  in  seeking  out 
Emmerson,  whose  consent  was  no  sooner  asked 
than  gained,  and  in  writing  to  Mary  and  to 
Mrs.  Talbot.  Two  days  after,  Clifford  joined 
his  sister,  accompanied  her  to  the  sea-port  town, 
saw  her  safe  aboard,  (having  previously  pre- 
sented Mr.  De  Lisle  and  Mr.  Emmerson,  who 
were  hy  chance  going  the  same  way,)  and  then 
retraced  his  steps  once  more  to  tr}^  his  hitherto 
unavailing  eloquence  upon  the  tranquil  and 
impracticable  gentlemen  of  the  law,  who  held 
in  their  hands  the  web  of  his  destiny. 


18  DE    LISLE. 


CHAPTER  III. 

If  Mrs.  Talbot  had  ever  been  handsome, 
was  more  than  her  new  acquaintance  could  dis- 
cover ;  but  he  had  no  difficulty  in  seeing,  that 
whatever  beauty  she  might  have  had  formerly, 
had  disappeared  with  her  youth  and  her  health. 
Her  manners,  though  depressed,  were  elegant 
and  courteous,  and  her  aspect  benign  though 
suffering ;  but  the  least  exertion  of  mind  or 
body  seemed  too  much  for  her.  A  sort  of 
feeble  compassion  therefore,  united  to  the  wish 
of  serving  his  friend's  sister,  were  all  the  sen- 
timents with  which  she  inspired  De  Lisle. 

The  step-daughter  scarcely  claimed  his  mo- 
mentary attention — young,  timid,  anxious  ;  her 
heart  following  every  motion  of  the  invalid, 
Anne  Talbot  had  no  time  for  strangers.  She 
listened  to  what  was  said  to  her  with  a  pre- 
occupied air,  answered  absently  or  vaguely,  or 


DE    LISLE.  19 

not  at  all,  and  never  addressed  her  companions 
except  to  ask  which  would  be  the  easiest  con- 
veyance, or  the  best  road  for  her  mother.  Even 
then,  it  was  Mr.  Emmerson  she  spoke  to ;  Mr. 
Emmerson  whose  advice  she  took;  for  whose 
attention  she  was  grateful ; — and  De  Lisle,  little 
in  the  habit  of  being  overlooked  by  man  or 
woman,  thought  her  an  odd,  shy  girl,  with  a 
pretty  face,  and  a  pair  of  large,  unmeaning  hazel 
eyes,  which  could  neither  sparkle  with  anima- 
tion, nor  shine  through  tears. 

Anne's  sorrow  was  not  picturesque,  for,  ho- 
nestly taken  up  with  others,  she  had  no  time 
to  display  her  fears  or  lament  over  herself. 

Mrs.  Talbot  had  two  children  with  her,  but 
they  were  not  pretty,  and  were  spoiled  ;  so  that 
the  boy  was  an  active  plague,  and  the  girl  a 
passive  one.  Their  half-sister,  anxious  to  save 
them  from  danger  and  bodily  ailment,  had 
neither  leisure  nor  inclination  to  correct  their 
conduct  in  any  respect,  and  De  Lisle  accord- 
ingly felt  disposed  to  quarrel  with  her  for  all 
the  annoyance  he  met  with  from  the  children. 

When  at  last  they  reached  Spa,  he  establish- 
ed them  in  a  private  house,  which  he  had  se- 
cured, and,  with  no  small  sensation  of  relief, 
found  himself  alone  and  at  his  ease  in  a  very 


20  DE    LISLE. 

comfortable  hotel,  where,  to  save  trouble,  he 
had  immediately  on  his  arrival  taken  up  his 
abode.  Even  Emmerson  had  left  him  free, 
having  the  first  day  of  his  going  out  to  put 
down  his  name  (according  to  the  custom  of  the 
place)  at  the  bookseller's  shop,  discovered  that 
Spa  was  full  of  his  friends  ;  most  of  whom  he 
thought  likely  to  suit  him  better  than  his 
young  and  serious  companion. 

Hubert  now  thought  of  writing  to  his  mo- 
ther, who,  perfectly  ignorant  of  his  motions,  saw 
the  date  of  his  letter  with  equal  surprise  and 
vexation. 

However,  he  was  fairly  gone,  and  could  not  be 
frightened  back ;  so  she  answered  his  remarks,  as 
if  she  had  known  of  his  journey,  and  was  prudent 
enough  not  even  to  imply  any  curiosity  as  to 
the  period  of  his  return.  All  this  was  so  little 
what  he  had  expected,  that  De  Lisle  first  gave 
it  up  as  a  riddle  beyond  his  solving,  and  then 
decided  that  as  she  was  clearly  deceiving  him, 
or  at  least  trying  to  do  so,  she  had  probably 
some  scheme  in  her  head,  the  secrets  of  which 
might  prove  the  displeasure  she  would  not  suf- 
fer to  evaporate  in  words.  He  accordingly  threw 
the  letter  from  him,  with  more  disdain  at  its  in- 
sincerity than  gratitude  for  its  indulgence  ;  and 


DE    LISLE.  21 

proceeded  to  read  a  string  of  apologies  from  Clif- 
ford, who  had  hoped  by  that  time  to  be  at  Spa, 
but  had  been  obliged  to  postpone  his  journey. 

De  Lisle  cared  not  now  how  long  he  re- 
mained at  a  place,  of  which  the  week  before  he 
had  been  heartily  tired.  The  spell  that  bound 
him  there  seemed  feeble  at  first,  but  was  every 
day  rising  into  importance  greater  than  he 
could  have  supposed  possible. 

He  had  been  one  day  sauntering  along  the 
sides  of  one  of  the  beautiful  hills  that  surround 
the  town,  when  a  party  of  horsemen  passed  him. 
A  dislike  to  strangers  was  an  instinctive  feeling 
with  Hubert ;  and  taking  out  his  knife,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  carve  letters  on  the  rough  bark  of  an 
old  oak,  merely  as  an  excuse  for  turning  his 
back  upon  the  passers  by.  One  of  the  party 
was  mounted  on  a  restive  horse,  and  the  ca- 
pering of  the  animal  induced  him  to  look  round : 
just  as  he  did  so,  the  unruly  horse,  by  a  sudden 
jerk  of  his  head  back,  snapped  his  bridle  in 
two ;  he  swerved  in  the  direction  where  Hubert 
stood,  who,  with  a  quick  eye  and  steady  hand, 
instantly  seized  the  broken  rein,  recommending 
to  the  rider  to  dismount.  He  had  no  occasion 
to  repeat  the  advice,  for  the  gentleman  instantly 
sprung   from  his  horse,  and,  having  indulged 


22  DE    LISLE. 

himself  in  swearing  at  the  animal  a  little,  turned 
in  the  second  place  to  thank  the  stranger,  whose 
assistance  had  been  so  opportune. 

The  exclamations  of  *'  Major  Wilmot  here  !" 
and  "  De  Lisle  !  my  sober  dog,  what  has  brought 
you  to  Spa  ?"  marked  their  recognition  of  each 
other. 

Wilmot  eagerly  pressed  his  countryman  to 
accompany  him  home,  where  dinner  would  be 
waiting  for  them  ;  and  Hubert,  who  disliked 
the  Major,  his  style  of  life,  and  his  associates, 
seeing  no  way  of  escape  but  by  affronting  a 
man  he  had  just  obliged,  reluctantly  consented. 

It  was  early  in  the  day  for  any  other  place  ; 
but  as  visitors  at  Spa  are  generally  mounted 
and  at  the  Wells  by  six  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
they  must  of  course  dine  proportionably  early. 

Major  Wilmot  had  a  very  pretty  house,  gaily 
situated  just  without  the  town.  As  De  Lisle 
inhaled  the  fragrance  of  the  flowers,  that  were 
scattered  with  luxuriant  profusion  around  every 
part  of  this  fairy  dwelling,  both  within  and 
without,  he  could  not  help  wondering  at  the 
taste  and  elegance  of  the  arrangements,  so  little 
in  unison  with  the  habits  and  temper  of  the 
owner. 


DE    LISLE.  23 

"  We  are  late,"  said  Wilmot,  "  and  our  par- 
ty, 1  fear,  has  been  waiting  for  us." 

It  was  the  first  intimation  to  Hubert  that 
there  was  a  party  at  all,  and  he  heartily  wished 
himself  in  his  own  comfortable  room.     But  it 
was  now  too  late  to  recede  ;  for  Major  Wilmot, 
opening  the  drawing-room  door,  ushered  him  into 
a  more  spacious  apartment  than  he  expected  to 
see,  in  the  centre  of  which  he  beheld  a  group 
of    persons,    not   exceeding    six    or    seven, — 
English,  German,  and  French.    When  De  Lisle 
had  been  named  to  this  party,  Major  Wilmot 
said,  "  We  must  not  overlook  the  lady  of  the 
house ;"  and  instantly  led  him  to  the  end  of  the 
room,  where,  seated  upon  a  sofa,  in  a  sort  of 
recess,  he  beheld  a  quiet-looking  person,   who 
bent  her  head    languidly  at   the   introduction, 
and  turned  again  to  listen  to  a  Frenchman  who 
was  standing  near  her,  and  who  with  much  vo- 
lubility and  gesticulation   took  up   the  thread 
of  his  discourse  where  it  had  been  broken  by 
the  transient  interruption  of  Wilmot. 

De  Lisle  had  now  got  to  the  asylum  for 
shy  men — a  chimneypiece,  and  leaning  against 
the  corner  of  it,  he  had  full  leisure  to  observe 
all  around  him.     'J'he  loud  boisterous  tone  of 


24  1)E    LISLE. 

Wilmot  was  what  he  had  always  known  it,  and 
contrasted  with  the  petit  maitre  graces  of  a  per- 
fumed foreigner,  to  whom  he  was  speaking,  \vas 
almost  too  broad  for  farce.  A  political  discus- 
sion, carried  on  in  low  and  cautious  tones  on 
the  other  side,  came  by  snatches  to  his  ear, 
and  last,  but  not  least,  in  this  investigation  was 
Madame  de  Lausanne.  She  was  knitting ;  and 
by  the  earnestness  with  which  she  pursued  her 
employment,  and  the  steadiness  with  which  she 
kept  her  eyes  down,  not  once  lifting  them  to 
the  speaker,  one  would  have  thought  the  ivory 
shuttle  she  threw  over  fingers  whiter  than  itself, 
had  been  some  fairy  spell.  But  for  this  me- 
chanical motion,  she  was  altogether  inanimate, 
making  no  remark  on  the  conversation  ad- 
dressed to  her,  though  she  appeared  attending 
to  it. 

From  the  living  furniture  of  the  room,  De 
Lisle  turned  to  what  was  inanimate,  and  beheld 
every  where  taste  united  to  magnificence.  He 
was  almost  tempted  to  rub  his  eyes,  to  satisfy 
himself  that  he  was  awake,  for  Wilmot  he  knew 
to  be  as  inelegant  as  he  was  poor.  Still,  though 
every  thing  surprised  him,  he  was  much  of  the 
opinion   of  that   Doge   of  Genoa  who  visited 


DE    LISLE.  25 

Paris,  and  could  have  said  with  him,  "  I  think 
nothing  so  strange  as  seeing  myself  here." 

Dinner  Interrupted  the  train  of  his  thoughts. 
He  lino^ered  at  the  door,  undecided  where  to 
seat  himself,  till  only  one  place  remained  vacant, 
next  Madame  de  Lausanne. 

She  was  not  sitting  at  the  head  of  the  table, 
but  near  an  open  window ;  and  as  he  took 
his  chair,  she  turned  to  warn  him  of  its  vi- 
cinity. She  spoke  in  English,  and  De  Lisle 
thought  her  foreign  accent  and  dulcet  tones 
lent  a  charm  to  the  language,  of  which  he  had 
never  before  supposed  it  capable.  He  tried  to 
make  her  converse,  but  a  few  faint  monosyl- 
lables alone  rewarded  his  labour. 

"  Do  you  go  to  the  ball  to-night,  Therese  ?" 
said  Major  Wilmot,  shortly  after  the  dessert  had 
been  set  on  the  table. 

Madame  de  Lausanne  bowed. 

"  Then,"  said  he,  pulling  out  his  watch,  "  it 
is  time  to  go  and  dress." 

Madame  de  Lausanne  arose.  "  I  shall  walk 
first,"  said  she ;  and  De  Lisle  thought  she 
looked  at  him,  but  he  was  not  sure,  and  could 
not  offer  himself  to  accompany  her.  She  did 
not  repeat  her  hint,  but  instantly  quitted  the 
room. 

VOL.   I.  c 


96 


DE    LISLE. 


He  was  shortly  disposed  to  follow  her  ex- 
ample, for  the  wine  passed  more  quickly  than 
he  liked,  or  was  very  well  able  to  bear.  He 
was  suffered  to  depart,  after  promising  to  look 
in  at  the  ball  in  the  course  of  the  evening. 

As  he  passed  through  the  garden,  he  stopped 
for  a  moment  to  examine  a  very  fragrant  shrub, 
with  which  he  was  unacquainted.  Its  feeble, 
slender  stem  seemed  by  no  means  adequate  to 
support  the  large  and  ponderous  blossom,  which 
accordingly,  in  many  places,  bent  so  low  as  to 
trail  on  the  ground.  Hubert  thought  it  a  pity 
so  beautiful  a  plant  should  be  neglected,  and 
gathering  up  some  of  the  branches,  he  fastened 
them  together. 

"  I  see,  Mr.  De  Lisle  is  worthy  of  flowers," 
Said  the  soft  voice  of  Therese,  and,  looking  up, 
he  beheld  her  beside  him.  The  veil,  that  during 
dinner  shaded,  and  partially  concealed  her  fea- 
tures from  his  view,  had  fallen  back,  and  the 
wind  had  even  blown  her  hair  from  her  fore- 
head. 

De  Lisle  thought  he  had  never  gazed  upon  a 
countenance  so  singular  and  powerful  in  its  ex- 
pression. It  was  not  sad,  and  yet  it  left  behind 
it  the  impression  of  suffering.  It  was  not 
animated,  yet  it   bore  the    stamp    of  intellect. 


DE    LISLE.  '  27 

There  was  repose  in  every  line,  and  yet  it  com- 
municated none  to  the  beholder.  Her  brow 
was  whiter  than  Parian  marble,  but  her  cheek 
was  sunk  and  colourless.  She  said  but  a  few 
words  more,  and  Hubert  scarce  heeded  their 
meaning,  for  she  was  gone  ere  they  were  well 
uttered ;  the  door  had  closed  after  her,  and 
her  *'  good  evening**'  rung  upon  his  ear  like  bro- 
ken music. 

"  And  can  this  elegant,  interesting-looking, 
superior  woman,  be  the  mistress  of  such  a  man 
as  Wilmot?"""*  thought  De  Lisle  to  himself,  as  he 
bent  his  steps  homewards.  "  Where  can  he 
have  found  her,  and  what  could  have  induced 
her  to  accept  his  protection?"  These  questions 
were  sooner  asked  than  answered  ;  and  Hubert 
at  that  time  had  no  intention  of  really  putting 
them  to  any  one  who  might  inform  him.  He 
came  home  weary,  and  was  indulging  himself, 
lounging  at  full  length  on  the  sofa,  with  a 
book  in  his  hand,  which,  however,  he  was  not 
reading,  when  Emmerson  made  his  appear- 
ance, dressed  with  more  than  usual  care. 

"  Who  are  you  going  with  now  ?"  asked 
De  Lisle. 

"  I  am  going,''  he  replied,  "  with  a  very 
pleasant  party,  who  are  to  chaperon  Miss  Talbot 

c  2 


i2S  1>E    LISLE. 

to  the  ball ;  and  as  you  have  now  been  here  ten 
days  without  looking  into  one,  either  at  the 
Assembly  Rooms  or  at  Vauxhall,  I  would  not 
set  out  without  proposing  to  you  to  join  us." 

''  I  thank  you,"  replied  his  fellow-traveller  ; 
''  I  had  really  forgotten  there  was  a  ball,  and 
am  afraid,  if  I  go,  I  must  belong  to  a  very  dif- 
ferent set  of  people.'"* 

''  How  so?" 

"  I  fancy  the  greatest  scoundrel 's  in  this  small 
town,"  continued  De  Lisle  :  and  he  gave  an  ac- 
count of  his  morning's  adventure. 

"  Well,"  said  Emmerson,  "  there  is  nothing 
very  deadly  in  all  this :  you  are  not  obliged  to 
play  with  Major  Wilmot,  or  to  make  love  to 
his  mistress ;  and  no  man  can  help  falling  in 
with  such  acquaintance  at  some  time  or  other 
of  his  life.  You  had  surely  better  come  out 
to-night,  when  there  will  be  other  people  in  the 
room  you  know,  should  you  grow  tired  of  the 
dinner-party."  Hubert  thought  so  too,  but  he 
was  idle,  and,  as  usual,  irresolute.  He  de- 
cided, however,  at  last,  dressed  himself  re- 
luctantly, and  set  out  for  the  ball,  wondering 
what  could  induce  him  to  take  such  unnecessary 
trouble.     He  soon  joined  Emmerson,  who  ap- 


DK    LISLE.  29 

peared  to  be  in    some  fidget  at  Miss  Talbot's 
non-arrival. 

As  they  were  lingering  near  the  door,  think- 
ing every  person  who  entered  must  be  her, 
Major  Wilmot  and  his  companions  almost  stag- 
gered in.  They  were  evidently  half-drunk,  and 
Hubert  could  not  help  looking  about,  with 
some  anxiety,  for  Madame  de  Lausanne.  He 
thought  she  would  never  come  in  such  society  ; 
at  the  very  instant  she  appeared — but  oh  !  how 
unlike  the  calm,  pale,  silent  being  he  had  seen 
but  a  few  hours  before !  She  was  superbly 
dressed,  and  a  style  of  person  to  become  mag- 
nificence :  her  figure  was  rather  striking  than 
good,  her  features  more  brilliant  than  regular. 
In  the  blaze  of  lights  and  jewels  her  complexion 
seemed  to  gain  fresh  whiteness  and  polish.  Her 
heavy  eye  did  not  now  seek  the  ground,  but 
was  directed  upon  all  alike,  with  steady  lustre. 
The  expression  of  her  mouth  was  altogether 
changed,  now  that  she  both  smiled  and  talked. 
Hubert  gazed  upon  her  with  undiminished 
wonder :  he  thought  her  much  handsomer  than 
she  had  seemed  in  the  garden,  yet  she  attracted 
him  far  less.  At  that  moment,  too.  Miss  Tal- 
bot entered  :  her  youth,  her  freshness,  her  look 


80  DE    LISLE. 

of  innocent  cheerfulness,  destroyed  at  once  the 
effect  Madame  de  Lausanne's  brilliancy  created. 

De  Lisle  wondered  he  had  never  admired  her 
before,  and  now  followed  her  airy  movements 
in  the  dance,  and  rejoiced  in  the  almost  infan- 
tine hilarity  of  her  countenance,  as  if  she  could 
reflect  back  on  him  a  part  of  her  enjoyment. 

"  Who  will  tell  Miss  Talbot  of  her  con- 
quest," said  a  voice  near  him,  "  for  she  is 
too  much  engrossed  to  make  the  discovery  her- 
self.?" 

He  turned  at  that  peculiar  tone,  less  sweet 
than  formerly,  for  there  was  sarcasm  in  it,  but 
still  so  full,  so  harmonious,  that  it  was  irre- 
sistible. 

"  Miss  Talbot  would  have  some  difficulty  in 
believing  in  her  conquest,*"  said  De  Lisle,  "  even 
if  it  were  told  her." 

"  Why  so?  Is  she  so  humble,  or  are  you  so 
cold  ?" 

"  Possibly  neither ;  but  we  know  each  other. 
We  formed  part  of  the  same  family  almost  from 
England.'' 

"  Then  you  must  either  dislike  her  very 
much,  or  fear  to  like  her  more,  for  you  have  not 
spoken  to  her  since  she  came  in." 


DE    LISLE. 


31 


"  But  I  mean  it — that  is,  if  she  come  in 
my  way." 

"  Doubtless  she  ought  to  be  flattered  by  so 
much  condescension.  Is  this  the  way  you  love 
in  England  ?^' 

"  I   do    not  know,    for    I  do  not  love  any 


where." 


"  You  are  sincere,  at  least.'* 

"  Why  not  ?  The  mere  act  of  loving  surely 
is  not  meritorious.  *Tis  barely  pardoned  in 
favour  of  the  object." 

Hubert  had  uttered  carelessly  what  he 
thought;  but  as  the  sound  reached  his  own  ears, 
he  remembered  that  his  words  were  little  short 
of  an  insult  to  Madame  de  Lausanne. 

Shocked  and  distressed  at  wounding  any  one, 
but  particularly  the  most  helpless  of  a  helpless" 
sex,  he   laboured   to  say  something  civil  that 
should  atone  for  his  heedlessness. 

A'  Nay,"  said  she,  gently  checking  him  in  the 
midst  of  a  speech,  which  he  saw  no  way  out 
of;  "  waste  no  more  words  to  prove  to  me,  what 
I  know  already,  that  you  are  incapable  of  giv- 
ing pain  voluntarily  :  all  your  generosity  can- 
not save  me  from  involuntary  wounds,  for  such 
is  my  evil  destiny.*' 


DE    LISLE. 

"  But  if  you  feel  that  it  is  evil,  cannot  you 
avoid  it  ?" 

''And  starve?"  she  asked,  with  a  vi^ild  look 
of  bitterness. 

Bewildered  and  uncomfortable,  De  Lisle 
scarcely  knew  what  to  answer  ;  when  the 
music  ceasing,  several  people  pressed  round 
Madame  de  Lausanne,  and  separated  her  from 
him.  He  could  still,  however,  listen  to  her 
conversation,  which  was  in  every  respect  the 
reverse  of  what  had  passed  between  them. 

Gay,  affable,  and  various,  Hubert  knew  not 
what  he  admired  most  in  her, — whether  her 
playful  imagination,  her  keen  strokes  of  wit,  or 
occasional  glimpses  of  a  more  severe  and  mas- 
culine understanding.  She  seemed  thoroughly 
mistress  of  French,  and  to  have  at  her  command 
all  those  little  phrases  and  graceful,  apparent- 
ly simple  ways  of  insinuating  something  flat- 
tering to  the  hearer,  which  De  Lisle  had  sup- 
posed none  but  a  native  could  ever  excel  in. 
When  she  spoke  her  own  German,  her  cha- 
racter and  her  sentiments  appeared  to  undergo 
a  complete  change.  With  the  old  and  the 
learned  she  was  serious  and  attentive,  enliven- 
ing the  most  abstruse  metaphysical  subject 
by  some  sudden  flash  of  genius;  while  to  the 


DE    LISLE.  3S 

younger  she  used  a  sort  of  lofty  imagery, 
that  confounded  while  it  dazzled,  leaving  an 
impression  of  wild,  mysterious,  and  undefinable 
feelings,  combined  with  no  faint  admiration  for 
the  powers  of  the  speaker. 

All  this,  and  more  than  this,  De  Lisle  saw 
and  felt  :  "  but  what  is  it  to  me  .?*"  thought  he, 
"  I  cannot  serve  her,  and  my  admiration  will  not 
flatter  one  who  has  been  accustomed  to  so 
much."  He  believed  his  interest  to  arise  solely 
from  benevolence,  and  he  therefore  gave  it 
free  scope.  Habitual  self-command,  however, 
taught  him  that  it  was  as  safe  to  avoid  her. 
He  did  so,  and  sought  the  society  of  the  Tal- 
bots. 

But  there  the  want  of  excitement  was  con- 
spicuous. Mrs.  Talbot,  indeed,  was  better, 
and  Anne  accordingly  more  cheerful,  and  at 
her  ease,  and  more  willing  to  attend  to  others  ; 
but  the  invalid,  though  stronger,  was  not 
talkative,  and  of  Anne''s  conversation  much 
could  not  be  made,  for  there  are  so  many 
subjects  on  which  a  shy  girl  feels  herself  un- 
able or  unwilling  to  speak.  Besides,  Emmer- 
son  was  there  to  engross  every  word,  and,  as  far 
as  possible,  every  look  ;  and  De  Lisle  soon  saw 
that  his  friend  was  seriously  playing  the  lover. 

c  5 


34  DE    LISLE. 

This  was  too  uninteresting,  and  Hubert  attain 
returned  to  his  books  and  his  solitude. 

Chance  threw  Madame  de  Lausanne  once 
more  in  his  way :  they  met  at  a  cottage  in 
the  vicinity,  and,  as  the  object  of  both  was 
charity,  they  were  pleased  at  the  meeting. 
Soon  after,  Wilmot  made  a  party  to  go  to 
Liege,  of  which  Madame  de  Lausanne  was 
not. 

Her  house,  in  the  absence  of  those  whose 
characters  and  pursuits  had  suited  De  Lisle 
so  ill,  became  in  his  eyes  an  Elysium.  Every 
thing  that  luxury,  and  talent,  and  accomplish- 
ments, and  the  most  judicious  insinuation  of 
restrained  feeling  and  tenderness  could  do  to 
form  a  fascinating  whole,  was  done  by  Therese. 
The  witchery  was  not  lost  on  Hubert,  who  at 
this  time  received  his  letters  from  England, 
and  without  much  philosophy  found  he  could 
reconcile  himself  to  CliflPord's  delay. 


P£    LISLR.  35 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Time  continued  to  move  on,  without  pro- 
ducing any  material  change  in  the  feeUngs  of 
young  De  Lisle  or  his  fellow-travellers.  Hu- 
bert was  every  day  more  enchanted  with  Ma- 
dame de  Lausanne,  and  consequently  had  every 
day  less  time  to  give  to  the  Talbots.  He  did 
not  however  forget  them,  and  should  have 
thought  himself  wanting  in  the  commonest 
rules  of  justice  and  social  obligation,  had  he 
neglected  persons  whom  he  considered  almost 
as  a  trust  reposed  in  him. 

There  are  many  who  think  that  to  do  for 
others  what  is  barely  sufficient  for  their  com- 
fort, is  to  fulfil  amply  all  duties  ;  but  this  was 
not  the  e very-day  character  of  Hubert.  He 
had  to  satisfy  his^  own  feelings,  as  well  as  theirs  ; 
and  not  till  that  was  done,  was  he  content  to 
pause  in  his  benevolent  attentions.     The  gra- 


36  DE    LISLE. 

titude  of  the  invalid  was  boundless ;  and  her 
affectionate  manner  convinced  De  Lisle  he  had 
done  more  than  was  expected.  Anne's  bright 
eye,  too,  would  not  unfrequently  thank  him  for 
his  kindness  to  her  mother  ;  it  was  indeed  but 
the  sudden  and  transient  glance  that  fears  to 
be  remarked,  while  her  manner  lost  none  of  its 
coldness : — but  what  was  that  to  him  ?  He 
cared  not ;  and  if  self-love  could  ever  sleep  with- 
in the  human  breast,  it  may  be  he  would  not 
have  seen  that  it  was  cold. 

If  ever  he  thought  of  Miss  Talbot,  it  was 
but  to  wonder  how  women  could  be  so  different 
as  Therese  and  her.  Both  were  accomphshed, 
both  were  elegant ;  both,  without  being  posi- 
tively handsome,  had  grace  and  beauty  suffi- 
cient to  attract.  The  good  qualities  of  Anne 
seemed,  like  her  good  looks,  to  be  thrown  away 
upon  people  in  general ;  they  were  found  out 
by  degrees,  made  no  sensation,  and  when  seen, 
elicited  but  a  feeble  portion  of  admiration.  The 
same  timidity  that  cramped  her  abilities,  seemed 
also  to  restrain  and  freeze  her  affections.  There 
was  no  soul  in  what  she  did ;  her  painting  was 
correct  and  pure,  but  it  could  boast  of  little 
effect ;  her  music  was  pleasing  and  scientific ; 
there  was   some  taste  too  in  her  singing,  but 


DE    LIsLK.  37 

no  sentiment.  When  she  feebly  struck  the 
chords  of  her  harp,  and  bent  her  tranquil  face 
over  her  instrument,  to  conceal  all  she  could 
of  it,  Hubert  remembered  the  masterly  touch 
of  Madame  de  Lausanne;  the  enthusiasm  she 
both  felt  and  inspired ;  the  wild  impassioned 
airs  she  accompanied  with  a  voice  of  such 
rich  and  powerful  melody,  as,  whether  speak- 
ing-or  singing,  engrossed  every  faculty  of  the 
listener. 

Had  De  Lisle  been  older,  it  is  probable  that 
Anne's  youth  and  innocence  would  have  proved 
a  charm  more  potent  than  the  talents  and  ma- 
turer  beauty  of  Madame  de  Lausanne  ;  but  as 
it  was,  he  was  content  to  feel  the  force  of  ge- 
nius and  passion,  and  turn  from  every  other 
attraction  as  feeble  and  insipid. 

When  he  thought  of  Mr.  Emmerson's  atten- 
tions, and  their  probable  result,  he  could  scarcely 
refrain  from  a  smile  of  contemptuous  compas- 
sion at  the  joyless,  monotonous  future  they 
were  making  to  themselves.  It  was  their  own 
concern,  however,  and  he  would  not  by  a  look 
interfere.  He  was  most  unwillingly  called  upon 
at  last  to  do  so  by  Mr.  Emmerson  himself. 

The  gentleman  had  proposed  to  Miss  Talbot 
and  been  refused  ;    but  Anne  had  said  ^'  no"  so 


38  DE    LISLE. 

timidly,  and  had  so  hastily  plunged  into  some 
other  subject,  that  Mr.  Emmerson  could  not 
persuade  himself  she  was  really  in  earnest. 
This  point  he  wanted  De  Lisle  to  ascertain, 
who  shrunk  from  the  task,  and  complied  at  last 
from  mere  weariness  of  the  subject. 

Whenever  hope  preponderated,  Mr.  Emmer- 
son found  out  that  Anne  possessed  every  per- 
fection that  can  fall  to  the  lot  of  woman  ;  but 
when  the  opposite  scale  weighed  heavy,  she 
was  a  mere  child, — full  of  levity,  coquetry,  and 
artifice.  Without  positively  agreeing  to  this, 
Hubert  thought  she  had  not  dealt  fairly,  or 
candidly,  by  his  companion.  Why  suffer  him 
to  indulge  hopes  she  never  meant  to  realize  ? 
Why  suffer  him  to  propose  at  all  ?  Hubert 
forgot,  whilst  thus  passing  judgment  on  an  in- 
experienced, shy  girl,  that  he  himself  had  always 
thought  her  manner  discouraging — he  forgot 
that  Emmerson  was  a  very  vain  man,  and  might 
have  insisted  on  blinding  himself  to  the  last. 
It  was  so  strange  to  Hubert  that  a  man  should 
ever  commit  himself  in  any  matter  of  feeling, 
that  he  doubted  not  for  a  moment,  that  Anne, 
proud  of  her  conquest,  had  acted  ungenerously. 

He  sighed  to  think  deceit  should  inhabit  so 


:3* 


DE    LISLE.  39 

young  a  breast,  and  then  smiled  at  his  own 
surprise,  since  it  was  part  of  his  distrustful 
system  to  expect  it  every  where. 

When  he  spoke  to  Mrs.  Talbot  of  his  com- 
mission, her  embarrassment  looked  disingenuous, 
though  it  arose  merely  from  a  dislike  of  Mr. 
Emmerson  she  was  too  well-bred  to  express, 
and  her  dread  of  seeing  Anne  throw  herself 
away.  She  said,  indeed,  that  she  had  no  right 
to  influence  her  step-daughter,  and  that  she 
wished  De  Lisle  therefore  to  speak  himself,  and 
immediately.  Still,  there  was  something  equi- 
vocal in  her  look,  and  restless  in  her  manner; 
and  Hubert  said  to  himself,  "  What  can  be 
her  object  in  deceiving  me  .'" 

Anne  was  called  :  she  blushed,  hesitated, 
looked  down,  and  implored  Mrs.  Talbot  to 
answer  for  her. 

De  Lisle  could  not  refrain  a  motion  of  im- 
patience, as  he  observed,  that  Miss  Talbot  was 
likely  to  know  herself  what  she  thought  of  Mr. 
Emmerson,  without  being  prompted.  Anne's 
eyes  filled  with  tears  ;  but  she  was  angry  as 
well  as  hurt,  and  could  find  courage,  therefore, 
to  say  the  truth,  and  the  whole  truth.  She  had 
discernment   enough    to  discover  that  Hubert 


40  liE    LISLE. 

judged  her  harshly  ;  and  when  she  had  said  all 
that  was  necessary  of  Mr.  Emmerson,  she 
added,  "  That  he  should  think  himself  ill-used  is 
not  surprising,  for  his  allusion  respecting  me  is 
of  long  standing,  and  I  wanted  both  ability  and 
courage  to  lead  myself  to  the  subject,  and  show, 
as  I  wished  to  do,  how  much  he  had  mistaken 
the  nature  of  my  attention ;  but  that  you,  too, 
should  believe  that  I  acted  dishonestly  towards 
your  friend — you,  who  ought  to  be  an  equitable 
judge,  since  you  cannot  be  biassed  by  vanity  in 
the  cause  of  another,  and  are  of  course  unin- 
fluenced by  affection  for  me,  does  seem  rather 
strange,  and  not  a  little  hard." 

Hubert  had  never  heard  her  say  so  much, 
and  certainly  never  with  so  much  animation. 
He  was  interested  without  being  convinced, 
and  said  something  courteous,  with  which  she 
was  willing  to  appear  soothed.  He  saw,  how- 
ever, that  she  looked  uncomfortable ;  and,  to 
show  a  sort  of  confidence  in  her  sincerity,  asked 
her  why  she  had  ever  shown  attention  to  Mr. 
Emmerson,  if  he  had  never  pleased  her  ? 

"  I  don't  think  you  will  quite  understand 
why,"  said  Miss  Talbot,  '*  but  I  will  try  and 
explain  myself.  Before  I  ever  saw  either  you 
or  him,  I  heard  Mr.  Clifford  speak  of  you  both. 


DE    LISLE.  41 

He  praised  Mr.  Eminerson's  abilities  and  good- 
nature, and  also  said  his  situation  was  not  plea- 
sant, but  how  he  did  not  exactly  explain.     Of 
you  he  spoke   with  an  enthusiasm  that  might 
have  been  contagious,  had  he  not  always  ended 
by  wishing  himself  but  half  as  fortunate,  at  any 
part  of  his  life,  as  you  were  at  your  very  onset. 
Young  and  wealthy,  so  situated  as  to  be  almost 
inaccessible  to  sorrow,  attention  to  you  was  un- 
necessary ;  but,  judging  of  Mr.  Emmerson  by 
myself,  I  did  feel  that  he  required  it   to  make 
him  at  all  comfortable.     I    saw   an  agreeable, 
obliging  person,  of  a  certain  age  and  acknow- 
ledged talents,  forced  by  his  evil  stars  to  be- 
come almost  the  dependent  of  a  more  fortunate 
person,  much  his  junior,    and  who   hardly  af- 
fected cordiahty  towards  him  to  gild  the  bitter 
pill  of  hourly  mortification.     I  suffered  for  him, 
in    the  beginning   of    our    acquaintance,    more 
than  I  now  think  he  ever  suffered  for  himself  ; 
but  even  had  I  not  lent  him  my  own  feelings,  I 
should  still    have    naturally  treated   him  with 
more  openness  than  I  could  prevail  on  myself 
to  adopt  towards  you,  simply  because  he  was 
more  attentive  to  me  than  you  were,  and  liked 
me  better  than  you  did.     Had  it  stopped  there, 
I  should  not  have  been  ungrateful." 


4«2  DE    LISLE. 

"  But  why,  when  you  saw  no  symptoms  of 
its  stopping  there,  not  change  your  manner  ?" 

"  I  did,  in  a  great  measure ;  but  he  was  poor 
and  dependent,  and  I  feared  to  wound  him, 
particularly  as  I  am  neither." 

"  You  have  a  fortune  then  ?  I  wonder  I  never 
heard  Emmerson  name  it !" 

"  It  may  be  that  he  thought  it  so  trifling,  com- 
pared to  yours,  that  it  was  not  worth  the  naming." 

Hubert  said  no  more,  but  he  did  not  agree 
w^ith  Anne.  He  remembered  that  Emmerson  was 
not  indifferent  to  money  or  family  ;  and  as  Miss 
Talbot  was  well  born  and  independent,  the  vio- 
lent attachment  of  his  companion,  was  probably 
not  so  disinterested  as  at  lirst  he  thought  it ; 
and  he  regretted  having  been  induced  to  make 
himself  in  any  way  a  party  concerned.  He 
took  a  friendly  leave  of  the  Talbots,  promising 
never  to  revert  to  the  subject,  and  announced 
his  failure  to  Mr.  Emmerson  the  best  way  he 
could. 

That  gentleman  was  piqued  and  disappointed, 
but  he  did  not  seem  very  seriously  unhappy. 
As  it  was  not  pleasant,  however,  to  meet  Anne 
continually  in  so  small  a  place  as  Spa,  he  left  it 
shortly,  in  company  with  some  dashing  young 
men,  who  were  content  to  receive  him  of  their 


DE    LISLE.  4S 

party,  contributing  thereto  no  other  quota  than 
that  of  wit  and  information.  It  is  said  that, 
being  the  sole  contributor  in  those  articles,  he 
more  than  once  on  his  tour  thought  with  bitter- 
ness of  Miss  Talbot,  whose  moderate  but  com- 
fortable means  would  for  ever  have  exonerated 
him  from  the  hard  task  of  applauding  nonsense 
and  laughing  at  dulness.  However,  he  travelled 
with  eclat^  lived  familiarly  with  persons  of  fa- 
shion, and  gave  no  money  for  the  distinction — 
so  he  comforted  himself:  and  it  may  be,  that 
many  are  of  opinion  he  was  making  an  excellent 
bargain,  since  he  gained,  with  comparative  ease, 
a  good,  for  which  thousands  vainly  sigh ;  and 
that  at  the  cheap  rate  of  being  often  provoked 
with  himself,  and  always  heartily  tired  of  those 
with  whom  he  associated. 


44  DE    LISLE. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Cliffords  came  at  last,  and  there  was 
nothing  to  detain  De  Lisle  any  longer  at  Spa. 
He  was,  however,  in  no  hurry  to  leave  it.  Ma- 
dame de  Lansanne  admired  the  scenery,  the 
wild  picturesque  tone  of  which  accorded  with 
her  own  highly- wrought  character,  and  gave 
the  excitement  so  necessary  to  her. 

The  road  leading  to  Spa  is  peculiarly  beauti- 
ful ;  winding  round  the  mountains,  till  at  last 
it  reaches  the  valley,  which  is  smooth  and  luxu- 
riant for  above  a  mile,  and  terminates  in  the 
small  town,  which  is  only  four  streets,  in  the 
form  of  a  cross,  well  situated  on  the  banks  of  a 
rivulet,  and  magnificently  backed  by  mountain 
scenery  The  hills,  though  rugged  and  wild 
enough,  on  all  sides  of  this  deep  valley,  to  give 
a  broken,  graceful  outline  to  the  painter,  are 
not   deficient   in   vegetation ;    their  sides  being 


DE    LISLE.  4t5 

literally  covered  with  towering  oaks,  and  shrubs 
of  a  darker  hue,  and  less  commanding  height. 
The  tinge  of  autumn  was  beginning  to  touch 
the  rich  foliage,  and  the  time  was  fast  approach- 
ing when  Spa,  losing  all  its  gay  visitors,  is 
transformed  into  a  lonely,  uninteresting  village, 
cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  world  (as  the  roads 
then  become  impassable),  and  subsisting  its  inha- 
bitants sparingly  on  their  winter  stores. 

In  summer,  the  women  from  Liege  bring 
provisions  and  fruit  upon  their  heads,  although 
the  distance  cannot  be  much  under  twenty  miles ; 
but  with  that  season,  luxuries  cease,  and  necessa- 
ries are  scarce.  Few,  consequently,  are  tempted 
to  prolong  their  stay,  and  Huljert  began  to  talk 
of  England.  Thither  Madame  de  Lausanne 
was  willing  to  accompany  him. 

Major  Wilmot  had  never  returned,  and  The- 
rese,  at  any  rate,  felt  little  bound  to  him.  At 
the  time  she  first  saw  him,  he  was  making  a 
good  deal  by  play,  and  it  furthered  his  plans 
to  have  a  pleasant  house.  To  effect  this,  a  co- 
adjutor was  requisite  ;  for  Major  Wilmot  could 
only  drink  and  play,  and  he  thought  himself 
fortunate  in  meeting  with  a  person  who  an- 
swered his  purpose  so  well  as  Therese.  Besides, 
though  unable  to  appreciate  her  talents,  he  ad- 


46 


DE    LISLE. 


mired  her  appearance,  and  liked  to  exhibit  her 
as  his  property.  She  was  extravagant,  to  be 
sure,  but  she  was  not  violent,  or  domineering, 
or  capricious;  and  Major Wilmot,  perhaps  with 
justice,  thought  himself  a  very  lucky  man.  If 
both  parties  were  content  to  meet,  so  were  they 
to  part ;  for  Madame  de  Lausanne  had  only 
borne  with  her  situation  from  indolence;  and 
Major  Wilmot  was  almost  tired  of  her,  and  be- 
sides no  longer  wanted  her  assistance. 

Hubert  neither  comprehended  his  cold-heart- 
edness,  nor  the  lenity  with  which  Madame  de 
Lausanne  spoke  of  it.  He  did  not  understand 
outliving  vanity  so  far  as  not  to  resent  neglect. 
Theresa  smiled. 

"  How  should  he  offend  me  ?"  said  she ;  "  I 
did  not  love  him  ;  so  that  he  has  hardly  the  power 
to  give  me  pain  :  I  did  not  esteem  him ;  so  he 
could  not  disappoint  me.  I  could  not  have  been 
flattered  by  affection  from  such  a  man,  supposing 
him  capable  of  feeling  it  (which  is  doubtful)  ; 
and  as  I  knew  I  did  not  possess  it,  I  was  never 
deceived.  I  am  neither  his  dupe  nor  his  victim. 
He  has  not  betrayed,  afflicted,  deserted  me — he 
has  only  left  me,  and  saved  me  the  trouble  of 
leaving  him."" 

But  Hubert  could  not  be  so  indulgent ;  he 


DE    LISLE.  4< 

had  always  disliked  Major  Wilmot,  and  now  a 
sentiment  of  irritation  mingled  with  his  dislike. 
He  hated  him  for  his  good  fortune  in  having 
met  with  such  a  companion  as  Therese ;  and  he 
hated  him  still  more  for  not  having  felt  her  va- 
lue. She  was  every  hour  becoming  dearer  to 
him,  and  he  could  not  bear  that  others  should 
slight  either  the  charms  or  the  talents  that 
held  him  in  silken  cords  of  bondage.  The  more 
the  masculine  character  of  Madame  de  Lausanne 
developed  itself,  the  more  cause  he  found  for 
admiration  and  reliance.  In  her  presence  he 
forgot  his  shy  and  cautious  spirit :  the  most  im- 
penetrable of  human  hearts  was  laid  open  to 
her  eye  ;  the  inmost  recesses  of  his  soul,  in  which 
he  scarcely  had  looked  himself,  were  sounded  by 
her,  and  balm  flowed  in  upon  them.  For  the 
first  time  in  his  life,  Hubert  felt  the  charm  of 
confidence.  Even  with  him,  the  first  emotion 
of  love  was  generous  and  unsuspecting ;  and 
the  effect  upon  his  temper,  on  the  whole,  would 
doubtless  have  been  beneficial,  had  the  object 
been  less  questionable. 

Since  the  Cliffords  had  arrived,  he  had  felt 
himself  exonerated  from  any  particular  attend- 
ance on  the  Talbots.  Clifford,  indeed,  had  done 
all  in  his  power  to  draw  him  to  his  own  cheer- 


48  DE    LISLE. 

ful  fire-side  ;  but,  on  finding  he  had  elsewhere 
"  metal  more  attractive,"  he  forebore  to  perse- 
cute him  with  kindness.  When  De  Lisle's  pre- 
parations for  departure  were  in  forwardness,  he 
went  to  take  leave  of  his  former  companions. 
He  found  Mrs.  Talbot  alone,  at  which  he  re- 
joiced ;  for,  though  there  was  something  like  re- 
proach in  the  sadness  of  her  manner,  it  was  as  kind 
and  affectionate  as  ever  ;  while  Anne,  ever  since 
the  explanation  about  Mr.  Emmerson,  had  been 
a  shade  more  distant  than  formerly.  Hubert 
supposed  she  resented  his  interference  ;  and  as  it 
had  appeared  to  himself  almost  impertinent,  he 
did  not  wonder  at  her,  though  it  convinced  him 
that  her  indifference  bordered  on  dislike.  This, 
however,  was  not  the  case  :  it  was  not  because 
he  advocated  the  cause  of  his  friend,  (as  Miss 
Talbot  had  once  startled  him  by  calling  Mr. 
Emmerson,)  that  she  felt  displeased.  Anne  was 
almost  as  shy  and  reserved  as  himself;  and 
having  made  the  uncommon  effort  of  explain- 
ing her  conduct  and  feelings,  that  she  might  not 
lose  his  good  opinion,  she  was  hurt  and  offend- 
ed to  see  she  had  taken  the  trouble  to  no  pur- 
pose. She  thought  she  paid  him  a  high  com- 
pliment in  deigning  to  justify  herself.  He  was 
not  aware  of  this,  for  he  did  not  know  her  dis- 


DE    LISLE.  49 

position,  and  his  natural  distrust  not  having 
yielded  to  her  frankness,  she  somewhat  haugh- 
tily condemned  him  as  unjust  and  illiberal. 

Mrs.  Talbot  was  surprisingly  recovered;  she 
seemed  so  thankful  at  the  unexpected  reprieve, 
so  glad  to  suffer  less,  and  to  be  more  indepen- 
dent of  the  continual  attention  of  those  around 
her,  so  rejoiced  to  see  her  brother  and  his  good- 
humoured  bride,  and  so  disposed  to  be  pleased 
with  every  body  and  every  thing,  that  the  be- 
nevolent spirit  of  De  Lisle  could  not  but  sym- 
pathize with  her,  and  he  left  her  with  a  feeling 
of  interest  greater  than  he  had  fancied  could 
ever  be  excited  by  so  commonplace  a  person. 

The  day  was  overpoweringly  hot,  and  there 
was  a  weight  in  the  air  that  threatened  thunder. 
Hubert,  though  little  disposed  to  tempt  the 
storm  by  a  distant  excursion,  yet  feeling  hardly 
able  to  breath,  ascended  the  nearest  hill,  where 
the  thick  foliage  formed  the  most  impervious 
retreat  from  the  solar  ray,  hoping  on  an  emi- 
nence to  catch  the  passing  breeze.  He  toiled 
on,  but  the  weather  proving  too  sultry  for  his 
indolence,  he  flung  himself  at  the  foot  of  an 
.aged  oak,  and  was  half  asleep  when  voices  near 
aroused  him.  He  raised  himself  on  his  elbow, 
and,  looking  through  his  shady  bower,  perceived 

VOL.   I.  D 


50  DE    LISLE. 

two  ladies  take  their  seat  within  a  yard  of  him, 
separated  only  by  some  holly  bushes.  The  first 
words  he  distinguished  were  in  the  voice  of 
Mrs.  Clifford,  and  spoken  with  more  petulance 
than  he  could  have  fancied  from  her. 

"  Well,  my  dear,  Anne,"  said  the  lady,  "  I 
would  do  any  thing  for  you  in  the  world  but 
walk  with  you.  I  have  raced  myself  into  a 
fever,  and  yet  could  never  keep  up  with  you, 
after  all.  You  have  the  constitution  of  a 
heroine." 

"  I  am  sorry  you  are  tired,*"  replied  Anne 
soothingly,  "  but  you  will  soon  recover  here ; 
and  for  your  reproach,"  she  continued  play- 
fully, ''  I  defy  your  malice,  for  no  later  than 
yesterday  you  blamed  me  for  not  being  a 
heroine." 

Mrs.  Clifford  laughed.  "  You  are  a  sly 
thing,  and  do  your  best  to  insinuate  that  you 
can  have  the  miraculous  bodily  strength  of  a 
princess  in  romance,  and  yet  escape  her  debility 
of  mind.  However,  I  won't  forgive  you,  either 
for  leading  me  such  a  race  in  the  sun  to-day, 
or  for  disappointing  me  when  I  was  at  the 
trouble  of  composing  such  a  pretty  story  for 
you.  I  tell  you,  child,  no  one  but  you  would 
have  crossed  the  salt  seas  with  Mr.  De  Lisle, 


DE    LISLE.  51 

and   never   made   out   a   small   flirtation   with 
him." 

"  That  is  surely  but  a  dull  amusement  when 
one  has  it  all  to  oneself,"  replied  Miss  Talbot ; 
"  and  I  do  assure  you,  in  all  humility,  I  should 
have  had  my  labour  for  my  pains  with  your  fa- 
vourite." 

"  Did  you  ever  try  ?" 

"  Why,  no ;  I  was  always  thinking  of  some- 
thing else:  and  when  I  had  leisure  to  look 
about  me,  Mr.  De  Lisle  was  not  only  attached 
to  Madame  de  Lausanne,  but  was  really  won- 
dering at  my  insipidity.  Contrasted,  indeed,  to 
the  fascinations  of  his  foreign  mistress,  I  can 
quite  fancy  my  producing  in  his  breast  no  other 
sentiment  than  ennui ;  and  as,  luckily  for  me, 
his  is  not  the  style  of  character  to  suit  my  taste, 
it  was  not  worth  fretting  about." 

"  All  this  may  be ;  but  I  maintain  my  opi- 
nion, that  he  could  not  have  escaped  the  nets, 
had  you  even  chosen  to  spread  them.'' 

"  Oh !  that  for  the  comfort  of  my  vanity  I 
could  believe  you  !"  cried  Anne,  with  mock 
pathos ;  "  but  alas !" 

"  What  provokes  me,"  interrupted  Mrs.  Clif- 
ford, "is,  that  you  don't  do  him  justice:  his 
urbanity,  his  elegance,   his   agreeableness,  are 

D  2 


53  DE    LISLE. 

all  lost  upon  you,  and  accordingly  he  is  fifty 
times  less  agreeable  to  you  than  to  any  one  else.'* 

"And  do  you  not  think  that  I  more  thati 
share  the  disadvantage  ?  He  thinks  me  a  sim- 
pleton, and  he  almost  makes  me  one :  he  has 
acquired  a  taste  for  foreign  manners,  and  as 
mine  are  very  English,  (more  so,  I  believe,  than 
will  any  where  make  me  popular,)  it  is  not  pos- 
sible I  should  ever  please  him ;  nor,  indeed,  can 
I  see  any  very  great  necessity  for  my  doing  so." 

"  Now  you  are  off  in  a  tangent  again.  I 
am  sure  you  should  not  quarrel  with  Mr.  De 
Lisle  for  his  pride,  at  least." 

"  I  do  not  care  sufficiently  for  Mr.  De  Lisle 
to  quarrel  with  him  about  any  thing,"  said  Miss 
Talbot,  almost  angrily ;  "  and  really,  Mary, 
the  infatuation  for  a  man  who  cares  no  more  for 
you  than  he  does  for  me,  is  very  unlike  your 
usual  j  udgment." 

"  So  then,"  cried  Mrs.  Clifford,  "  you  con- 
demn me  to  like  only  those  who  like  me  "^  Why 
you  would  destroy  half  my  pleasure  in  life. 
Thank  Heaven  !  I  can  be  concerned  for  every 
amiable  interesting  being  that  falls  in  my  way, 
though  he  may  lack  the  good  taste  to  think  me 
either  amiable  or  interesting.  Besides,  I  have 
several  reasons  for  caring  about  this  said  youth. 


DE    LISLE.  53 

I  not  only  think  him  pleasanter  than  most  peo- 
ple, but  I  happen  to  know  several  traits  of  him 
much  in  his  favour  ;  and  then,  my  husband  has 
the  highest  opinion  of  him." 

"  Yes,  Mr.  Clifford  really  loves  him  ;  but 
Mr.  De  Lisle  only  looks  upon  him  as  a  cheerful, 
good  sort  of  fellow,  that  it  may  be  pleasant  to 
meet,  and  from  whom  it  is  not  painful  to  part."" 

"  You  would  fain  make  me  take  up  the 
cudgels  for  my  husband,  and  see  me  resent 
the  chance  of  his  being  overlooked;  but  it 
won''t  do.  Every  one  has  not  Clifford's  frank 
manner,  or  cordial  way  of  saying  what  he 
thinks;  though  he  may  feel  as  much — your- 
self, for  instance.  In  short,  I  will  not  give 
up  Mr.  De  Lisle  without  cause.  Even  his  pre- 
sent ill-judged  attachment  proves  that  he  is  not 
cold-hearted." 

"  I  do  not  think  so,"  said  Anne  gravely. 

"  And  yet  you  were  against  my  asking  my 
husband  to  break  the  thraldom  in  which  he  is 
held  ?'* 

"  Surely  it  is  no  concern  of  ours  if  he  has 
fifty  mistresses  ;  but  if  he  quarrelled  with  Mr. 
Clifford,  in  consequence  of  any  thing  urged  by 
him,  it  would  grieve  us,  because  it  would  very 
much  grieve  your  husband." 


54>  DE    LISLE. 

"  I  fear  she  will  ruin  him,  for,  I  hear,  he  takes 
her  to  England." 

"  He  will  find  plenty  of  ways  of  getting 
money  with  his  prospects,  and  it  is  quite  fair 
he  should  suffer  for  his  folly,  to  call  it  no  worse." 

"  You  are  quite  bitter,  Anne,  against  this 
poor  boy," 

'*  Poor  boy,  indeed  !  I  cannot  spare  him  any 
pity,  except  in  so  far  as  one  is  bound  to  pity 
those  who  do  wrong.  He  ought  to  be  saying 
his  lessons  at  school,  instead  of  aping  the  vices 
of  his  seniors.  And  now,  my  dear  Mary,  as 
we  are  not  likely  to  agree  about  him,  suppose 
we  talk  of  something  else  ?^'' 

*'  Since  there  is  no  convincing  you,  I  believe 
it  would  be  our  best  plan  ;  and,  as  I  am  rested, 
we  will  set  ojff  again ;  only  be  merciful,  and  go 
a  little  slower." 

Anne  promised  to  be  as  demure  and  tranquil 
in  her  pace  as  might  best  suit  her  companion  ; 
and  their  voices  gradually  dying  away  in  the 
distance,  left  Hubert  to  the  solitude  upon 
which  they  had  so  unconsciously  broken.  He 
remained  motionless  for  some  minutes,  thinking 
over  a  conversation  from  which  he  had  derived 
any  thing  but  pleasure.  Mrs.  Clifford  he  knew 
to  be  one  of  those  good-humoured  persons,  by 


DE    LISLE.  55 

whose  praise  no  one  is  flattered,  because  she  was 
ready  to  bestow  it  on  every  one.     She  always 
took   every  body^s   part,  and  her   taking  his, 
therefore,  was    no   particular  compliment,  and 
did  not  soothe  his  self-love,  so  keenly  wounded 
by  the  censure  of  Miss  Talbot.     It  was  not  to 
be  supposed  that  he  could  possibly  view  his 
own  conduct  in  the  light  in  which  it  appeared 
to  her.     "  Am  I  not  a  free  agent  ?''*  thought 
he ;  "  and  whom  do  I  injure  by  my  love  fot 
Therese  .^""     There  was  no  one  at  hand  to  an- 
swer his  thoughts,  to  explain  to  him  how  far 
he  was  a  free  agent,  and  to  what  extent  be 
might  be  injuring  public  morals  by  his  example. 
He  found  it  easy  to  satisfy  himself  of  his  own 
virtue,  for  he  compared  it  to  that  of  his  asso- 
ciates, and  by  that  comparison  it  was  seldom 
found  defective.    He  concluded  that  Anne,  who 
was  evidently  prejudiced  against  him,  could  not 
be  expected  to  judge  him  fairly,  and  he  won- 
dered  that   her    observations   should   have   so 
much  effect  upon  him.     It  is  true,  that  as  he 
descended  the  hill,  and  caught  a  glimpse  of  his 
abode,  they  were  quickly  forgotten. 

He  stopped  to  gaze  upon  the  habitation  of 
Therese,  to  watch  the  blue  smoke  curl  above 
the  trees,  and  to  fancy  her  employment  at  the 


56  DE    LISLE. 

moment ;  perhaps  she  was  singing  his  favourite 
song,  and  he  had  missed  it ; — at  any  rate,  she 
was  thinking  of  him,  and  her  heavy  eye  might 
chide  his  long  delay.  He  pressed  more  rapidly 
forward ;  and  if  again  he  thought  of  Anne  and 
her  companion,  it  was  with  irritation  and  con- 
tempt. "  Did  thei/  presume  to  despise  Madame 
de  Lausanne  ?"  He  contrasted  the  mental  pow- 
ers of  each  ;  and  so  much  was  his  mind  warped 
from  its  native  rectitude,  by  his  passion  for  Th^- 
rese,  that  he  was  disposed  to  underrate  the  only 
virtue  he  could  not  refuse  to  them,  and  to  ascribe 
to  chance,  or  the  regulations  of  society,  their 
fortunate  possession  of  it.  He  thought  of  their 
youth  and  inexperience,  and  was  indignant  that 
they  should  pass  judgment  on  the  object  of  his 
fondest  admiration  ;  and  dare  to  confound  her, 
of  whom  they  knew  nothing,  with  the  common 
class  of  the  abandoned  and  mercenary. 


DE    LISLE.  57 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Young  De  Lisle  had  not  been  many  weeks 
in  England,  when  he  found  it  necessary  to  re- 
turn to  Oxford.  He  gave  Madame  de  Lau- 
sanne her  option  of  remaining  in  London  or 
removing  to  his  vicinity.  She  preferred  the 
former,  for  he  had  procured  her  a  comfortable 
house,  and  some  society,  chiefly  foreign  or 
literary,  which  was  more  than  he  could  promise 
her  in  the  environs  of  Oxford,  The  parting 
with  Therese  was  the  first  sorrow  that  had 
ever  assailed  Hubert,  and  he  felt  it  with  a 
keenness  proportioned  to  its  novehy.  He  might 
as  well  not  have  been  at  college  for  any  thing 
he  could  do  there;  his  mind  dwelt  on  one 
object  only,  and  his  pen  reluctantly  employed 
itself  in  any  service  but  her's.  In  the  delirium 
of  his  passion,  he  almost  resolved  on  marrying 
her   as   soon  as  he  came  of  age  ;  trusting  to 

d5 


58  DE    LISLE. 

the  little  that  could  be  known  of  her  in  England, 
and  to  her  own  fascinating  manners,  for  pro- 
curing her  an  introduction  to  that  society  in 
which  his  wife  would  naturally  move. 

He  thought  of  the  anger  of  his  mother, — of 
the  grief  of  his  father,  should  he  take  such  a 
step.  But  once  done,  they  could  not  undo  it ; 
and  though  he  did  not  want  to  make  them 
seriously  unhappy,  the  idea  of  showing  his 
mother  that  he  was  his  own  master  was  rather 
pleasing  to  him  ;  and  to  his  father's  facility  he 
trusted  for  a  speedy  reconciliation.  He  was  an 
only  child,  and  could  not  be  hastily  thrown  off. 
Therese  had  given  him  her  heart  in  that  only 
way  in  which  affection  was  worth  having  in  his 
eyes — spontaneously.  It  was  unbribed,  almost 
unsought ;  and  if  gratitude  was  added  to  her 
present  love,  what  could  ever  burst  asunder 
such  adamantine  chains  ?  "  She  has  done  every 
thing  for  me,"  thought  Hubert,  "  it  is  but  just 
that  in  my  turn  I  should  do  something  for 
her." 

In  reflections  such  as  these,  the  time  wore 
away,  and  he  was  already  thinking  of  his  return 
to  town,  and  counting  the  weeks  that  must 
elapse  before  he  was  to  come  of  age,  when 
a  paragraph  in  a  morning  paper,  announcing 


DE    LISLE.  59 

the  departure  of  Madame  de  Lausanne  for 
Paris,  startled  him  extremely.  He  read  it  over 
more  than  once.  It  expressly  stated,  that  the 
lady  had  exchanged  the  protection  of  a  young 

Oxonian,  (the  eldest  son  of  Sir  F.  De  L ,) 

for  that  of  a  French  count,  in  the  suite  of  the 
ambassador. 

"  Infamous  libel !"  exclaimed  Hubert  aloud, 
crushing  the  paper  in  his  hand,  and  determining 
to  drive  immediately  to  town,  where  he  should 
know  in  a  few  hours  what  could  give  rise  to 
such  a  report.  Not  for  one  moment  did  he  credit 
the  fact,  yet  as  it  made  him  uncomfortable,  he 
thought  the  sight  of  his  Therese,  in  her  own 
quiet  home,  awaiting  his  return,  would  be  more 
than  usually  delightful.  He  rang  the  bell,  to 
order  horses  to  his  carriage ;  but  he  had  no  time 
to  give  his  directions,  for  the  servant  who  an- 
swered the  summons,  ushered  in  Mr.  Seymour, 
and,  in  the  pleased  surprise  of  beholding  a  per- 
son whom  he  highly  valued,  he  forgot  for  a 
moment  the  previous  subject  of  his  thoughts. 

Lionel  Seymour  was  not  a  man  to  be  re- 
ceived with  indifference  by  the  coldest  or  most 
fastidious.  He  had  been  at  school  with  Hu- 
bert ;  and  though  the  latter,  even  in  his  earliest 
days,    singled   out   no  particular  favourite  on 


60  DE    LISLE. 

whom  to  lavish  the  name  of  friend,  he  was  not 
bhnd  to  the  merits  of  his  young  companion,  and, 
being  also  several  years  his  junior,  was  flattered 
by  the  predilection  which  that  companion  avow- 
ed for  him.  De  Lisle  never  but  once  asked 
leave  to  bring  a  guest  to  his  father's  house,  and 
the  exception  was  in  favour  of  Lionel.  It  was 
not  merely  for  his  own  pleasure,  for,  though  he 
had  pleasure  in  the  society  of  Seymour,  he  could, 
on  his  own  account,  have  dispensed  with  it; 
and  would  have  done  so,  but  he  had  once 
spent  a  day  with  Lionel,  at  the  house  of  his 
parents,  where  he  had  felt  for  his  friend  a  de- 
gree of  resentment  which  that  friend  never  felt 
for  himself,  on  witnessing  the  injustice  with 
which  every  preference  and  attention  were 
heaped  upon  an  elder  brother,  while  the  other 
children  appeared  to  be  scarcely  remembered. 

There  is  nothing  so  quick-sighted  of  injury^ 
or  even  neglect,  as  a  child.  If  he  is  sweet-tem- 
pered and  affectionate,  he  forgets  ;  if  he  is  proud 
and  noble-minded,  he  pardons;  if  he  is  high- 
spirited,  he  resents  ;  if  malicious,  he  looks  out 
for  revenge ;  but  there  is  not  one  that  does 
not  feel  it  where  it  does  exist,  and  often  fancy 
it  where  it  does  not.  The  younger  children  of 
Mr.    Seymour  seemed  long  ago  to  have  made 


DE    LISLE.  61 

up  their  minds  to  be  perpetually  overlooked 
in  favour  of  their  senior  ;  the  girls  burned  in- 
cense at  the  same  shrine,  and  the  boys  con- 
soled themselves  that  the  time  would  come  when 
they  must  be  emancipated  from  their  present 
vassalage,  and  make  their  own  way  in  the  world, 
independent  of  an  elder  brother.  But  to  Hu- 
bert the  scene  was  new  and  distressing.  He 
suffered  for  Lionel ;  he  honoured  his  forbear- 
ance ;  and,  perceiving  how  easily  he  might  be 
spared  from  home,  formed  the  plan  of  tempting 
him  to  the  hospitable  mansion  of  Sir  Francis. 
Shortly  after  this,  tlie  young  men  (for  such 
they  tried  to  consider  themselves)  parted ;  Hu- 
bert for  college,  and  his  companion  for  the 
West  Indies,  with  the  regiment  which  he  had 
just  joined. 

An  unexpected  event  changed  Lionel's  pros- 
pects: his  elder  brother  died.  He  was  hunt- 
ing, and  fell  from  his  horse.  There  were  some 
who  thought  the  injury  to  the  noble  horse 
(who  was  lamed)  was  an  evil  more  to  be  de- 
plored than  the  bi'oken  neck  of  the  rider ;  but 
his  family  were  not  of  that  opinion.  Indeed, 
extreme  grief  was  said  to  have  shortened  his 
mother's  days;  and  Mr.  Seymour,  made  ex- 
tremely nervous  by  this  twofold  calamity,  was 


62  DE    LISLE. 

anxious  to  recall  his  next  son,  Lionel,  and  take 
him  out  of  the  army,  in  which  he  had  once  been 
so  eager  to  place  him.  After  a  little  more  than 
three  years'  service,  young  Seymour  quitted  a 
profession,  to  which  he  was  attached,  and  set 
out  for  England ;  but  his  father  lived  not  to 
receive  him.  This  event,  and  his  departure 
shortly  afterwards  for  the  Continent,  was  noti- 
fied to  De  Lisle  bv  a  mutual  friend  ;  but  until 
after  his  return  from  Spa  he  had  never  met 
Lionel.  When  he  did  see  him,  he  was  shocked 
at  the  change  which  a  few  years  had  wrought. 
The  rosy  boy,  with  dimpled  cheeks,  and  laugh- 
ing eyes,  was  not  to  be  traced  in  the  sun-burht 
complexion  and  sallow  brow  that  he  now  wore. 
His  inexhaustible  animal  spirits,  which  De  Lisle 
had  thought  nothing  could  have  power  to  check 
or  sadden,  were  tamed  down  almost  below  his 
own.  His  countenance,  sweet  and  intelligent, 
was  rather  serious  than  animated ;  the  wild 
energy  of  his  juvenile  manner  was  exchanged 
for  one  dignified  and  placid,  inspiring,  at  the 
least,  as  much  awe  as  regard.  He  was  no  longer 
Lionel  Seymour,  such  as  Hubert  had  known 
him  ;  but  he  was  an  interesting,  amiable  person  : 
and  De  Lisle  felt,  that,  under  whatever  form 
he   appeared,   he   was   still  one  whom  he  was 


DE    LISLE.  63 

destined  to  admire  and  like.  He  had  taken 
him  to  Madame  de  Lausanne's,  whose  enthu- 
siasm he  had  strongly  excited  by  his  powers  of 
description  and  his  love  of  music ;  but  Lionel 
appeared  not  to  share  her  pleasure. 

'*  She  is  highly  gifted,"  he  said,  in  reply  to 
a  question  from  De  Lisle,  "  and,  with  such 
versatile  powers,  must  make  a  most  attractive 
companion.  It  is  good  for  the  pride  of  genius 
to  behold  her  ;  for,  if  that  could  confer  happi- 
ness, she  ought  to  be  supremely  blessed." 

"  And  Th^rese  is  happy,  I  hope  and  believe  ?" 
said  Hubert,  in  the  earnest  tone  of  interrogatory. 
A  look  of  mournful  incredulity  was  Seymour's 
only  answer — but  it  had  more  effect  than  words. 
It  said  so  plainly,  "  There  can  be  no  happiness 
in  the  lap  of  infamy  ;"  and  De  Lisle  was  more 
and  more  confirmed  in  his  plan  of  marrying 
her;  "  and  then,"  thought  he,  "  Lionel  will 
not  doubt  her  happiness."  There  could  not  be 
a  stronger  proof  of  his  regard  for  his  friend, 
than  that  of  his  attachment  undergoing  no 
change,  when  Lionel  represented  to  him  how 
unprofitably  he  was  now  spending  both  his 
time  and  money.  If  he  did  not  follow  his  ad- 
vice, he  received  it  kindly,  as  it  was  meant: — 
he  had  more  difficulty  in  bearing  his  coldness, 


04)  DE    LISLK. 

in  speaking  of  Madame  de  Lausanne ;  but  he 
did  bear  it  with  outward  calmness,  for  he  was 
persuaded  that  the  time  would  come  when  he 
would  do  her  more  justice. 

When  the  first  bustle  of  greeting  had  sub- 
sided between  the  young  men,  De  Lisle  pro- 
ceeded to  do  the  honours  of  his  breakfast,  which 
Lionel  did  not  seem  to  think  at  all  below  his 
notice.  He  lingered,  indeed,  so  long  at  a  meal, 
which  Hubert  had  often  seen  him  swallow  in 
five  minutes,  that  the  latter  felt  almost  disposed 
again  to  have  recourse  to  his  paper.  Lionel 
glanced  towards  it. 

"  Any  news  .?"  he  asked  hastily,  without  look- 
ing up. 

Hubert  pointed  to  the  paragraph  before  men- 
tioned, and  smiUngly  replied,  "  Only  this  un- 
meaning squib."" 

Lionel  affected  to  read  it,  holding  his  head 
down,  till  his  companion  exclaimed, 

"  You  are  in  the  strangest  loitering  mood 
to-day,  Seymour !  you  have  been  lounging  over 
your  breakfast  this  hour ;  and  now  you  take 
another  to  read  half  a  dozen  lines  in  a 
paper !" 

Thus  urged,  Lionel  looked  up  and  smiled  ; 


DE    LISLE.  65 

but  the  expression  of  his  face  was  so  uncheer- 
ful  that  it  struck  De  Lisle. 

"  And  do  you,"  he  said,  almost  disdainfully, 
"  believe  this  precious  story  .?" 

*'  You  do  not,  I  see."^ 

"  I !  think  you  I  know  Therese  so  ill  ?** 

"  She  is  your  mistress,  not  your  wife,  and 
has  therefore  a  right  to  leave  you,  without  any 
particular  stigma  attaching  to  her." 

''  Doubtless,  but  I  am  not  afraid  of  her  ex- 
ercising that  right." 

"  Indeed !" 

"  And  why  do  you  say  '  Indeed  V  when  I  love 
her  so  well,  am  I  very  vain,  do  you  think,  in 
supposing  that  she  loves  me  a  little  ?" 

Instead  of  replying  to  De  Lisle's  question, 
Lionel  covered  his  face  for  a  moment;  then, 
gazing  mournfully  at  him,  softly  ejaculated, 
"  My  poor  Hubert!" 

De  Lisle  rose  hastily — he  grasped  his  hand — 
he  examined  his  troubled  features — he  felt  the 
sympathizing  pressure  of  his  hand — he  saw  him 
avert  his  dark  eyes,  but  he  had  already  seen  a 
tear  in  them.  He  felt  that  the  blow  was  struck, 
and  that  he  was  pitied  !  In  such  a  case,  com- 
passion could  not  well  be  free  from  contempt ; 


68  BE   LISLE. 

and  such  compassion,  even  from  Lionel  Sey- 
mour, was  more  than  he  could  bear.  He  let 
his  hand  fall,  and  turned  to  lean  against  the 
chimney  piece. 

There  was  a  silence  of  some  moments.  De 
Lisle  moved  his  head  with  apparent  effort,  and 
shading  his  face  with  one  hand,  he  motioned 
with  the  other  to  be  left  alone.  Seymour 
promptly  obeyed  the  sign.  De  Lisle  followed 
his  friend  to  the  door,  which,  with  a  tremulous 
hand,  he  secured  against  intrusion  ;  then  closing 
the  window  curtains,  jealous  lest  a  cursory 
glance  might  pry  into  his  heart,  he  flung  him- 
self on  the  couch,  and  burying  his  face  in  the 
cushions,  with  a  cry  of  agony  exclaimed,  "  She 
has  left  me  !   She  never  loved  me !" 

He  lay  for  a  time  motionless,  overpowered 
with  grief,  shame,  and  irritation ;  but  pride  at 
last  gained  the  mastery  over  passion.  He  arose, 
and  with  a  look  stern  and  haughty,  as  though 
he  would  bid  defiance  to  every  living  thing,  he 
went  forth  to  join  his  patient  friend.  He  would 
have  spoken  when  they  met,  but  Seymour  avert- 
ing his  face,  that  his  eye  might  not  seem  to 
scan  his  troubled  features,  hastily  interrupted 
him. 

"  I  came  hither,''    he  said,    "  solely  to  see 


DE    LISLE.  67 

you,  and  I  return  immediately.  Will  you  ac- 
company me,  or  is  there  any  thing  you  wish 
done  in  which  I  can  be  useful  ?  If  so,  employ 
me ;  if  not,  let  us  part  for  the  present.  Cor- 
dially do  I  sympathize  with  your  sorrow ;  but 
not,  as  you  well  know,  with  its  cause.  Your 
loss  to  me  is  as  the  gain  of  morality,  of  indepen- 
dence, of  every  sacred  and  honourable  feeling. 
One  day  you  will  think  as  I  do— but  it  cannot 
be  now ;  and  this  is  not  the  moment  I  would 
choose,  in  which  to  give  you  pain  or  displea- 
sure ;  therefore,  farewell !" 

He  held  out  his  hand  to  De  Lisle,  who  took 
it  in  silent  reverence.  They  walked  slowly 
back  to  Hubert's  dwelling.  At  his  door  stood 
Lionel's  carriage;  and  when  it  had  driven  oif, 
and  could  no  longer  be  discerned,  the  son  of 
opulence  recrossed  his  threshold;  desolate  and 
abandoned  ! 


68  DK    LISLE. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

That  birthday  to  which  young  De  Lisle  had 
looked  with  feelings  of  anxious  pleasure,  ar- 
rived at  last ;  but  it  found  him  neither  anxious 
nor  pleased.  He  had  remained  at  College  as 
long  as  he  could  from  mere  listlessness ;  and 
feeling  himself  unable  to  affect  a  gaiety  foreign 
to  his  heart,  he  had  urged  Lionel  Seymour  to 
accompany  him  to  the  family  mansion,  and  help 
him  to  get  through  the  festivities  and  amuse- 
ments which  would  take  place  there,  in  honour 
of  an  event  which  had  ceased  to  interest  him.  He 
iiad  stayed  but  two  days  in  London,  to  get  rid 
of  Madame  de  Lausanne's  house,  of  which  the 
lease  was  not  yet  expired,  and  to  collect  the  un- 
paid bills  she  had  left  behind  her.  She  had  dis- 
charged all  the  domestics,  and  Lionel  Seymour 
had  placed  there  but   one  maid-servant.     Hu- 


DE    LISLE.  69 

bert  was  relieved  to  see  only  a  strange  face,  and 
could  trust  himself,  when  thus  unobserved,  to 
go  over  each  untenanted  room.  In  the  apart- 
ment of  Therese,  he  found  a  parcel  directed  to 
himself.  He  broke  the  seals,  cut  through  the 
packthread,  and  discovered  a  cabinet  picture : 
it  was  closed,  and  the  key  secured  to  a  piece  of 
writing-paper,  which  he  unfastened,  and  read 
these  words. 

*^  1  do  you  more  justice  than  to  suppose,  that, 
parted  as  we  now  are,  my  picture  could  give 
rise  to  one  pleasurable  feeling.  I  have  there- 
fore displaced  it,  and  you  will  find  here  only  the 
sketch  I  made  of  ^o?/,  in  the  early  part  of  our 
acquaintance.  It  is  sufficiently  like  you  to  be 
valuable  to  your  mother,  or  your  future  wife.'' 

There  was  no  signature,  but  there  needed 
none.  Hubert  well  knew  the  hand,  and  was 
glad  to  see  those  peculiar  characters  had  lost 
much  of  their  firmness.  It  was  a  sort  of  tacit 
sympathy  with  his  feelings,  and  the  only  one  to 
be  traced  in  the  note.  He  did  not  unclose  the 
picture  ;  but  as  he  glanced  from  it  to  the  scrap 
of  writing,  he  could  scarcely  forbear  exclaiming 


70  DE    LISLE. 

aloud,  "  And  this,  then,  is  all  that  remains  to 
me  of  deceitful  hopes  and  unhallowed  pas- 
sion r 

At  his  father's  house  he  was  received  with 
the  warmest  demonstrations  of  joy.     Lady  De 
Lisle  forgot,  in  the  transport  of  seeing  him,  the 
length  of  his  previous  absence  ;  Sir  Francis  was 
always  ready  to  be  pleased  ;   and  the  voice  of 
numbers,    with    enthusiasm,    real    or    feigned, 
hailed  the  heir,  and  seemed  to  think  no  event 
in  the  empire  could  be  of  so  much  importance 
as  the  son  of  Sir  Francis  De  Lisle  attaining 
his   one-and-twentieth    year.     Caressed   by  his 
father,  flattered  by  his  mother,  and  gently  im- 
pelled forward  by  his  friend,  Hubert  got  through 
his  task  with  less  reluctance  than  he  could  have 
supposed  possible.     But  the,  worst  was  yet  be- 
hind ;   for  he  now  found  himself  named  as  a 
candidate  to  represent  the  county  in  Parliament. 
This   had    long   been   an    object    of    ambition 
with  Sir  Francis.     He  was  persuaded  that  with 
Hubert's   talents   it   was   the    shortest  way   to 
fame  ;  and  he  hoped,  by  strenuous  exertions,  to 
revive  the  family  interest,  which,  though  of  late 
years  gone  to  decay,  had  once  been  very  consi- 
derable.    Hubert  had  only  the  disinclination  of 


DE    LISLE.  71 

diffidence  and  indolence,  and  he  felt  he  had  no 
right  to  oppose  such  reasons  to  the  earnest 
wishes  of  his  parents. 

The  canvass  began,  and  was  carried  on  with 
much  spirit  on  both  sides.  Its  result  was  un- 
favourable to  the  wishes  of  De  Lisle,  and  yet 
more  so-  to  his  disposition.  Lady  De  Lisle  had 
been  by  much  the  most  successful  canvasser  in 
the  family.  Her  quickness,  her  keen  memory, 
her  love  of  manoeuvring,  shone  conspicuous ; 
and  Hubert  regretting  the  means  employed, 
and  ashamed  to  see  them  succeed,  was  more 
and  more  disgusted  with  the  picture.  He  com- 
plained with  bitterness  to  Lionel,  who  smiled  at 
his  earnestness,  and  endeavoured  to  persuade 
him,  a  man  might  like  attention  without  being 
either  a  fool  or  a  knave ;  and  whether  that  at- 
tention was  shown  by  handing  his  wife  into 
the  dining-room,  or  dancing  with  his  daughter, 
signified  little. 

"  And  cannot  you  see  the  absurdity  of  a  man 
being  returned  for  a  county,  because  he  dances 
with  all  the  Misses  in  it  ?''"'  asked  Hubert  im- 
patiently. 

"Absurdity!*'  re-echoed  Lionel.  ''Oh!  if 
that  is  all  your  complaint,  I  offer  you  bound- 


72  DE    LISLE. 

less  sympathy  :  we  are  all  very  absurd,  and  to 
be  chafed  by  the  absurdities  of  others  is  the 
greatest  of  all." 

*'  I  confess  it  is  very  disagreeable  to  me  to  see 
persons  so  abundantly  ridiculous ;  nor  is  the  mat- 
ter mended  by  the  reflection,  that  I  may  pos- 
sibl}'^,  in  some  other  way,  be  as  ridiculous  myself." 

"  That  is  only  because  you  have  not  arrived 
at  the  firm  conviction  that  you  are  so.  You  have 
at  best  but  a  glimmering,  which,  like  all  dubious 
lights,  irritates  and  misleads,  instead  of  quiet- 
ing and  guiding.  Once  assured  that  it  is  our 
nature,  you  would  be  more  lenient  towards 
those  who  yield  to  that  nature  more  than  your- 
self; for  the  very  simple  reason,  that  it  has 
pleased  Providence  to  endow  them  with  a  more 
limited  capacity  than  yours."" 

"  And  Brunton,  my  father's  favourite  tenant, 
is  it  because  his  capacity  is  limited,  that  he  is 
gone  over  to  the  strongest  side  ?" 

"  You  are  starting  far  and  wide  from  the  ar- 
gument. There  are  errors  of  heart  as  well  as 
of  head ;  and  there  are  follies  and  vanities  that 
will  sway  many  who  are  not  defective,  either  in 
heart  or  head.  Has  your  father  given  notice  to 
Brunton  to  quit  ?" 

''  No,  it  was  my  mother's  wish  ;  but  as  he  is 


DE    LISLE.  73 

not  the  less  a  good  farmer  for  having  refused 
me  his  vote,  I  petitioned  for  him,  and  he  re- 
mains." 

"  In  a  political  point  of  view,  I  cannot  regret 
your  having  done  so,  for  at  a  future  election  it 
may  tell  well,  and  your  party  will  have  much 
to  say  about  generosity,  disinterestedness,  &c.; 
but  as  I  know  this  was  not  your  motive,  on 
your  own  grounds  I  do  not  approve  of  it.*" 

"  And  why  not  ?'* 

"  Because  it  was  a  young  action,  more  splen- 
did than  just.  I  know  that,  in  this  land  of  free- 
dom, you  cannot  be  said  to  have  a  positive  right 
to  the  votes  of  your  dependents.  But  Brunton 
was  not  a  common  dependent ;  his  family  has 
made  part  of  yours,  almost  from  the  Saxon 
days.  He  himself  has  been  high  in  trust  and 
honour  among  you.  He  has  been  ungrateful ; 
and  though  I  would  not  oppress  him,  or  let  him 
starve,  out  of  regard  to  my  own  feelings,  I 
would  seek  one  more  worthy,  on  whom  to 
shower  my  benefits." 

"  Seek,  ay  I  and  where  shall  we  find  ?" 

"  Nowhere,  if  you  do  not  seek ;  in  many 
places,  if  you  do.  Hubert,  I  would  rather  see 
you  in  Christian  charity  forgive  this  man,  than 
have  you  ostentatiously  reward  his  unfaithful- 

VOL.   1.  E 


74  DE    LISLE. 

ness.  As  it  is,  you  have  done  very  like  the 
French  nobleman  who  saved  the  life  of  his 
enemy,  assuring  him  at  the  same  time  that  his 
enmity  was  unabated." 

"  I  have  no  enmity  to  him ;  and  it  is,  at  any 
rate,  nothing  to  him  what  I  may  feel,  so  long  as 
my  feelings  do  not  sway  my  conduct.'" 

"  When  we  say  so,  we  deceive  ourselves.  In 
great  matters,  we  may  run  counter  to  our  feel- 
ings ;  but  in  small  ones,  they  must  and  will  have 
an  imperceptible  influence.  Besides,  granting 
it  to  be  the  same  to  him,  it  is  not  the  same  to 
you.  As  long  as  in  your  heart  you  refuse  to 
pardon  this  man,  so  long  do  you  cherish  a  sen- 
sation of  sadness  and  disappointment,  not  un- 
mixed with  resentment,  which  can  be  produc- 
tive of  no  good.  You  feed  upon  distrust ;  and 
the  wound,  slight  as  it  may  seem  at  first,  will 
rankle  long,  because  your  own  reflections  will 
poison  it." 

''  I  did  not  think  you  had  been  so  prone  to 
exaggeration,"  said  young  De  Lisle,  as  he 
turned  with  a  smile  from  his  friend  ;  and  Lionel 
felt  that  his  words  were  lost  in  air. 

There  were  many  things  said  and  done, 
during  the  sharpest  time  of  the  contest,  that 
acted  on  the  proud  and  sensitive  spirit  of  the 


DE    LISLE.  75 

young  candidate  like  a  sudden  and  bitter  caus- 
tic. Sometimes  he  was  disgusted  by  undeserved 
praise,  and  as  often  wounded  by  undeserved 
censure.  Many-tongued  rumour  had  magni- 
fied the  visit  to  Spa,  and  every  one  seemed  to 
know  that  he  had  not  returned  alone.  Some 
censured,  with  unsparing  acrimony,  his  early 
profligacy ;  some  sarcastically  took  his  part, 
and  only  abused  him  as  a  hypocrite,  because 
his  elegant  manners  and  steady  decorous  con- 
versation gave  no  warning  of  such  principles. 
Others  (and  they  did  not  excite  the  least  ex- 
asperation in  his  breast)  pitied  him  as  the  dupe 
of  an  evil-minded  man  and  designing  woman. 
Goaded  on  all  sides,  he  turned  to  his  fjiends;  and 
their  indiscreet  defence  of  every  thing  he  had 
done,  or  might  do  in  future,  fairly  annihilated 
the  little  patience  he  had  hitherto  retained. 

Much  of  this  suffering  might  have  been 
spared  him,  had  Lady  De  Lisle  understood  his 
temper  better.  But  careless  herself  of  the 
squibs  and  innuendoes  which  circumstances  na- 
turally brought  forward,  she  read  them,  re- 
peated them,  laughed  at  them,  and  took  it  for 
granted  her  son  did  the  same.  Conversations 
were  retailed,  and  unconsciously  exaggerated, 
that  in  a  more  experienced  person  would  have 

E  2 


76  DE    LISLE. 

produced  only  contempt,  but  on  the  harassed 
mind  of  De  Lisle  they  sunk  with  all  the  weight 
of  injury.     He  believed  the  world  to  be  a  com- 
pound of  every  thing  base,  illiberal,  and  selfish ; 
and  turning  from  it  with  loathing,  he  clung  the 
more  earnestly  to  his  natural  caution  and  re- 
serve, which  placed  so  great  a  distance  between 
him  and  others.      Believing  every  one  unwor- 
thy of  his    regard,  he  had  a  sort    of   savage 
triumph  in  thinking  that  in  truth  he  cared  for 
no  one.     When  the  time,  however,  approached 
for  Lionel  Seymour  to  leave  him,  he  could  not 
but  own  that  he  had  not  included  him.     He 
could  not  detain  him,  for  he  knew  that  Lionel 
was  to  accompany  a  younger   brother  to  the 
South  of  France.     All  his  sisters  but  one  had 
died  in  infancy — that  one  had  taken  the  veil 
abroad,  shortly  after  the  demise  of  her  parents, 
at  the  request,  it  was  thought,  of  her  mother, 
who  was  a  Catholic.     Two  boys  remained  :  the 
next  to  Lionel,  robust  in  body,  and  daring  in 
spirit,  had  chosen  the  profession  of  the  navy, 
and  distinguished  himself  in  it ;  but  Henry  had 
always  been  delicate,  and  his  gentle,  timid  tem- 
per  partook    of    the    debility   of    his    frame. 
Easily  abashed,  discouraged,  and  wounded,  his 
mind  in  childhood  required  as  much  fostering 


DE    LISLE.  77 

as  his  body — but  it  required  it  in  vain,  for  Mr. 
Seymour  lived  only  for  his  first-born. 

The  mother  of  this  interesting  and  beautiful 
family  might  have  been  expected  to  cherish  the 
youngest  and  most  feebleof  her  sons ;  but  Mrs. 
Seymour  was  a  gloomy  bigot,  who  stifled  all 
natural  and  affectionate  feelings  as  so  many  sins. 
Unhappy  herself,  she  thought  not  of  the  happi- 
ness of  others :  she  scarcely  believed  any  felicity 
on  earth  could  be  innocent — she  well  knew  it 
could  not  be  permanent.  Of  the  eternal  bliss 
of  those  most  dear  to  her,  she  thought  with 
doubt  and  dread.  An  early  disposition  mani- 
fested by  her  eldest  son  for  the  faith  she  pro- 
fessed, awoke  all  her  religious  enthusiasm  ;  and 
in  after  years,  when  her  hopes  of  seeing  him 
return  to  the  Mother  Church  were  nearly  at  an 
end,  she  was  still  loath  to  give  up  her  favourite. 

Henry  went  to  the  same  school  with  his 
brothers ;  and  though  his  life  was  irksome,  he 
met  with  more  encouragement  from  his  masters 
than  he  had  ever  done  at  home,  and  began  to 
suspect  that  he  was  not  quite  the  dunce  he  had^ 
thought  himself.  But  it  is  so  small  a  part  of  a 
boy's  time  that  is  spent  with  masters  !  Henry 
shrunk  from  the  loud  voice,  bold  look,  and 
authoritative   manner   of   his  companions,  and 


78  DE    LISLE. 

often  bent  beneath  the  tyranny  of  those  who 
would  have  loved  and  protected  him,  had  they 
understood  him  better.     Lionel  sometimes  in- 
terfered in  favour  of  his  young  brother ;  but 
though  his  popularity  was  useful  for  a  time,  he 
was  too  wild  and  unsteady  to  do  him  any  last- 
ing good.     Hubert  had  often  stood  his  friend, 
but  merely  from  compassion  for  his  ill-health, 
for  he  thought  him  childish  and  stupid.     Boys 
rarely   conceal   their    sentiments;    and    Henry 
withered   beneath   the    contemptuous    pity   of 
Hubert,  and  could  not  venture  to  make  himself 
better  known  to  one  he  admired,  but  who  seem- 
ed to  scorn  him. 

The  gentle  boy  left  school  as  gentle,  and 
nearly  as  boyish,  as  when  he  came  to  it.  At  a 
time  when  he  should  have  been  actively  and 
usefully  employed,  he  was  lingering  at  home, 
because  his  father  could  not  decide  what  should 
be  done  with  him.  Army  and  navy  were  out 
of  the  question  with  his  feeble  constitution,  even 
had  he  not  already  had  a  brother  in  each  pro- 
fession. It  was  hardly  thought  he  had  health 
or  abilities  to  try  the  law;  and  the  church 
seemed  so  like  preaching  against  his  mother? 
that  Mr,  Seymour  did  not  like  to  think  of  it. 
Trade  of  various  sorts  remained,  but  Mr.  Sey- 


DE    LISLE.  79 

mour  had  a  prejudice  against  trade.  He  con- 
tinued wavering  and  uncomfortable  while  time 
went  on,  and  Henry  became  a  man,  utterly 
idle  and  unprofitable.  Without  for  a  moment 
fancying  himself  happy  at  home,  Henry  dreaded 
entering  the  world ;  and  carefully  therefore 
avoided  reminding  his  father  that  he  was  doing 
nothing : — and  nothing  it  was,  in  every  sense 
of  the  word,  for  he  had  not  energy  to  study 
merely  for  his  own  amusement.  He  wandered 
about  with  his  gun  or  his  book  in  his  hand, 
sought  the  most  retired  paths,  and  returned 
home  unquestioned,  because  he  had  been  un- 
missed. 

This  dreary  life  did  not  tend  to  excite  to 
energy  in  any  pursuit,  and  accordingly  he  had 
none ;  and  like  the  savage,  who  sits  down  to 
watch  the  perpetual  flow  of  a  river,  he  gazed 
but  upon  a  limited  number  of  objects,  and  his 
soul,  taking  in  the  sublime,  the  vague,  and  the 
monotonous,  remained  content  with  inaction. 
Then  came  death  into  his  father's  house,  and 
he  and  Isabella  remained  alone  to  greet  the 
much-altered  Lionel.  Soon  his  sister  departed 
to  consummate  a  sacrifice  that  appeared  not  as 
one  to  her ;  and  Henry,  whose  nervous  system 
had  received  a  fearful  shock  from  the  gloomy 


80  DE    LISLE. 

scenes  he  had  so  lately  witnessed,  confined  to 
his  room  with  a  low  fever,  saw  them  depart, 
and  envied  those  who  slept  in  peace  within  the 
cemetery  of  his  ancestors.  When  Lionel  re- 
turned, he  was  shocked  to  find  his  brother  wasted 
to  a  shadow,  with  little  chance,  and  less  desire, 
of  recovery.  In  the  morning  he  lay  upon  his 
couch,  pale,  languid,  and  speaking  only  to 
complain  of  cold.  In  the  evening  he  became 
feverish  and  restless,  and  seemed  willing  to  con- 
verse or  read  during  the  hours  that  sleep  might 
have  refreshed  him. 

Lionel  could  scarcely  breathe  in  the  suffo- 
cating atmosphere  of  the  invalid's  apartment, 
and  earnestly  intreated  that  the  heat  might  be 
more  moderate  ;  but  Henry  looked  chilled  and^ 
miserable  at  the  smallest  alteration  in  the  tem- 
perature of  his  room ;  and  his  brother,  unwil- 
ling to  make  him  more  uncomfortable  than  was 
necessary,  soon  ceased  to  remonstrate.  It  was 
at  this  time  that  Lionel  went  to  town,  anxious 
to  procure  the  written  opinion  of  a  physician 
there,  of  whose  skill  he  thought  highly  on  his 
brother's  case.  He  met  Hubert  de  Lisle,  just 
returned  from  Spa ;  and,  in  the  hope  that  the 
sight  of  an  old  schoolfellow  might  rouse  Henry, 
he  asked  him  to  go  back  with  him.     Nothing 


DE    LISLE.  81 

could  have  suited  Hubert  so  ill  as  leaving  Ma- 
dame de  Lausanne,  but  he  could  not  refuse 
Lionel,  and  he  agreed  to  his  wishes,  deter- 
mining that  his  visit  should  be  as  short  as  pos- 
sible. 

Henry's  reception  did  not  induce  him  to  alter 
his  plan.  The  invalid  lifted  his  heavy  eye  with 
apparent  effort,  and  suffered  it  slowly  to  wan- 
der over  the  face  and  form  of  his  visitor,  with 
an  expression  of  feeble  curiosity  and  weariness, 
which  soon  gave  place  to  utter  vacancy  and  un- 
consciousness. Hubert  felt  persuaded  that  the 
mind  of  the  sufferer  must  be  altogether  lost, 
and  beheld  him  with  wonder,  some  hours  after- 
wards, converse  with  his  brother,  and  allude, 
with  a  sickly  smile,  to  transactions  during  their 
early  days  that  had  nearly  escaped  his  memory. 
Whatever  bodily  disease  there  might  be,  Hu- 
bert felt  that  it  could  not  but  be  increased  by 
this  want  of  excitement.  Yet  how  excite  a 
person  who  felt  himself  dying,  and  did  not  wish 
it  otherwise.? 

Hubert  considered  for  a  moment,  and  finally 
resolved  to  awaken  his  anxiety,  if  possible,  for 
his  brother,  whose  health,  he  felt  assured,  must 
suffer  from  his  confinement  to  a  sick-room. 
Henry  listened  so  quietly,  that  De  Lisle  feared 

E  5 


82  DE    LISLE. 

he  had  made  but  a  feeble  impression.  Some 
measures,  however,  were  taken  in  consequence ; 
for  the  invalid  peremptorily  forbade  any  one  to 
enter  his  room  in  the  morning ;  and  even  to- 
wards night,  when  it  became  cooler,  he  would 
admit  Lionel  but  for  a  couple  of  hours.  On 
his  table  lay  an  hour-glass,  which  he  set  up  the 
moment  his  brother  entered,  (for  it  was  one  of 
his  sick  fancies  to  hate  the  ticking  of  a  watch,) 
and  Lionel  found  that  when  the  last  sand  had 
run,  he  was  regularly  dismissed. 

Hubert  saw  he  had  done  more  harm  than 
good ;  and  as  he  was  going  away  at  a  time  when 
Henr}^  was  not  visible,  he  left  a  note  for  him, 
representing,  that,  by  exerting  himself  for  his 
brother's  sake,  both  might  derive  the  most  be- 
neficial results  ;  but  that  debarring  Lionel  from 
his  society,  and  depriving  him  of  every  chance 
of  being  serviceable  to  him,  was  worse  than 
useless,  since,  where  he  meant  to  benefit,  he  only 
gave  him  pain.  The  wonder  of  De  Lisle  was 
boundless,  when,  a  fortnight  after,  he  met  his 
friend  in  the  street,  and  found  that  the  invalid, 
at  his  own  desire,  had  been  brought  to  town. 
De  Lisle  congratulated  Henry  on  the  successful 
exertion,  for  he  was  looking  stronger  and  bet- 
ter.    He  found,  however,  that  his  own  opinion 


DE    LISLE.  83 

of  his  situation  was  unaltered ;  for  when  Lionel 
was  no  longer  near  him,  he  replied,  with  his  ac- 
customed look  of  despondency, 

"  It  cannot  matter  where  I  die,  but  it  may 
matter  where  my  brother  lives;  I  would  not 
disgust  him  with  his  home,  by  associating  it 
with  disease  and  gloom." 

Change  of  air  and  scene,  combined  with  dif- 
ferent treatment,  did  much  for  Henry  ;  and  it 
was  thought  his  youth,  with  the  assistance  of  a 
milder  climate,  might  bring  him  through.  The 
time  fixed  for  their  leaving  England  had  ar- 
rived, and  De  Lisle  could  not  ask  Lionel  to 
delay  on  his  account  a  journey  from  which  so 
much  good  had  been  anticipated.  He  suffered 
him  therefore  to  depart,  without  opposition ; 
though  just  at  that  moment  he  felt  without 
him  like  one  suddenly  deprived  of  the  spring- 
that  alone  gives  elasticity  and  spirit.  His  mind, 
goaded  and  over-excited,  sunk  at  last  as  soon 
as  the  eye  of  Friendship  was  withdrawn,  be- 
neath which  he  would  have  been  ashamed  to 
droop. 


84  DE    LISLE. 


CHAPTER  VIIT. 

The  languid  manner  and  joyless  features  of 
their  only  son,  was  matter  of  more  vexation  than 
surprise  to  Sir  Francis  and  Lady  De  Lisle. 
Deeply  mortified  themselves  at  the  failure  of 
his  canvass,  they  naturally  attributed  his  des- 
ponding appearance  to  the  disappointment 
which  was  so  strongly  felt  by  thenL  They  had 
seen  with  pleasure  the  intimacy  subsisting  be- 
tween him  and  Lionel  Seymour,  and  Sir  Francis 
ventured  to  express  his  wish,  that  Hubert  might 
at  some  future  time  be  so  fortunate  as  to  travel 
in  company  with  Mr.  Seymour.  This  hint, 
thrown  out  for  the  consideration  of  his  imperious 
lady,  was  not  lost  upon  her.  She  had  not  for- 
gotten the  trip  to  Spa ;  and  she  determined  in 
future  to  facilitate  her  son's  plans  in  their  in- 
fancy, aware  that  opposition  had  lent  them 
strength,  and  that,  in  fact,  he  was  so  little  ear- 


DE    LISLE.  85 

nest  in  his  wishes,  that  the  more  she  smoothed 
the  way  for  their  accomplishment,  the  more 
easily  he  might  be  disgusted  with  them  alto- 
gether. She  accordingly  told  her  son,  that  if 
his  travelling  mania  had  not  subsided,  now  that 
it  had  become  reasonable  to  indulge  it,  Sir 
Francis  would  make  him  an  advance  to  any 
amount  he  could  desire ;  and  that  if  it  suited 
him  to  join  Mr.  Seymour  and  his  brother,  it 
would  be  an  additional  pleasure  to  them  to 
know  that  he  had  so  intelligent  and  pleasing  a 
companion  as  Lionel. 

All  this  was  not  said  without  due  circum- 
locution, a  vast  proportion  of  which,  indeed, 
Hubert  could  have  spared  his  mother,  as  he  saw 
her  drift  at  almost  the  first  phrase  she  uttered. 
Unfortunately,  he  was  too  indolent  seriously 
to  meditate  a  journey  combining  pleasure  with 
profit ;  and  he  was  too  sensible  and  too  well-in- 
formed, not  to  be  ashamed  of  racing  through 
a  country  as  fast  as  he  could  prevail  on  inn- 
keepers to  send  him  forward,  without  bestowing 
a  thought  upon  its  outward  features  or  its  in- 
ternal regulations.  If  he  had  no  desire  to  stay 
at  home,  neither  had  he  any  to  go  abroad,  more 
particularly  when  it  was  proposed  to  him,  and 
not   an  idea  of  his  own.     He  replied   coldly. 


86 


DE    LISLE. 


that  he  was  very  well  where  he  was,  and  felt 
in  no  way  tempted  to  follow  in  the  loitering 
steps  of  an  invalid,  to  whom  climate  alone  was 
an  object. 

He  found  it  less  easy  to  parry  the  frankness 
and   simple-minded   affection   of  Sir   Francis ; 
and  the  result  of  a  conversation  on  the  same 
subject  with  his  father,  was  the  determination 
either  to  rally  his  spirits  for  the  comfort  of  his 
parents,  or  to  seek  to  renovate  them  in  some 
other  land.     Faithful  to  his  purpose,  Hubert 
obliged  himself  to  take  a  part  in  conversation, 
or  to  attend  to  the  chance  guests  at  his  father's 
table;  but  the  effort  lost  none  of  its  unpleasant- 
ness from  repetition,  and  he  reluctantly  con- 
fessed to  himself  that  he  was  fit  for  nothing  but 
the  solitude  of  his  own  room.     So  early  to  be- 
come  a  misanthrope,  without  a   single  excuse 
for  the  unsocial  defect;  to  be  weary  of  a  world 
on  which  he  had  scarcely  entered,  was  not,  in- 
deed, very  reasonable,  and  De  Lisle  felt  that  it 
was  not ;  yet  how  to  shake  off  the  fiend  that 
preyed  upon  him,  he  knew  not.    He  reviewed  the 
events  of  his  past  life,  but  he  could  not  think 
that,  few  and  unimportant  as  they  were,  they 
could  have  brought  him  to  his  present  state. 
He  remembered  nothing  that  had  very  keenly 


^* 


DE    LISLE.  87 

interested  him,  except  Madame  de  Lausanne, 
and  of  her  he  had  ceased  to  think.  '  When  the 
first  burst  of  indignation  had  subsided,  he  had 
dismissed  her  from  his  mind,  as  one  of  the  many 
who  live  but  to  prey  upon  the  credulous  few.  "  I 
will  not  be  so  taken  in  again,"  thought  he  ;  and 
he  turned  to  other  things,  and  believed  that  he 
was  eno^rossed  bv  them.  But  he  was  mistaken. 
Too  proud  to  probe  the  wound  she  had  inflicted, 
it  was  skinned  over,  but  not  healed.  He  not 
only  had  loved  her,  but  she  was  his  first  love  ; 
and  though  he  might  doubtless  again  feel  the 
passion,  it  would  never  be  what  it  had  been ; 
each  succeeding  fancy  would  inevitably  be 
fainter  than  the  one  that  went  before,  like  the 
prolonged  echo  of  one  sound.  There  was  no- 
thing to  recall  an  image  he  so  sedulously  shut 
out.  Therese  stood  apart  from  all  his  other 
thoughts.  He  had  met  her  in  another  land,  in 
society  to  which  he  was  unaccustomed,  and  had 
mixed  in  no  more.  Lionel  at  first  was  associated 
with  her  perfidy,  since  he  had  confirmed  her 
desertion  ;  but  with  Lionel  he  was  soon  engaged 
in  other  pursuits,  that  recalled  not  a  thought 
of  the  being  whom  he  strove  to  forget. 

Hubert  had  proved  himself  to  be  capable  of 
very  real  attachment ;   and  if  not  easily  excited. 


88  DE    LISLE. 

he  was  singularly  steady  and  sincere  when  once 
attracted ;    but  he   had  not  naturally   a   very 
great  share  of  sensibility :   he  had  no  imagina- 
tion; for,  though  he  would  sometimes  give  the 
reins  to  fancy,  he  always  knew  it  was  fancy> 
and  enjoyed  it  but  so  far  as  we  enjoy  a  bright 
dream  that  is  past.     It  is  rare  that  a  youthful 
spirit  should  have  no  tendency   to  enthusiasm. 
There  is  a  noble  elevation  of  mind,  which  time 
may  overcast,  but  cannot  annihilate ;  there  is  a 
godlike  benevolence,  that  perseveringly  awaits 
good,  though  nought  but  evil  be  visible;  there 
is  a  joyous  confidence  in  the  existence  of  vir- 
tue, though   depravity   every  where  blast   the 
eye, — and    this    is    genuine    enthusiasm.     But 
there  is  also  a  spurious  kind,  and  a  much  com- 
moner one,  which  is  the  privilege  of  youth.     It 
is    the   mere   result  of  high    spirits,    sanguine 
temper,  and  utter  inexperience.     Yet  even  this 
looks  amiable: — we  are   supposed   to  judge  of 
others  by  ourselves ;  and  since  we  expect  good 
from   them,    it  may  be  inferred   that   we   are 
willing,  in  our  turn,  to  do  them  good. 

Hubert  did  not  take  shelter  in  distrust,  as 
many  have  done,  as  an  excuse  to  himself  for  des- 
pising or  injuring  his  fellow-creatures ;  he  did 
not    separate  himself  from  the  cause  of  man  : 


DE    LISLE.  89 

he  mourned  over  his  brethren,   and  he  could 
have  wept,  as  he  decided  never  to  trust  them. 
His  benevolence,   though   sometimes  inert,  was 
never  extinguished.     He  often  conferred  bene- 
fits alike  on  the  rich  and  poor,   and  he  did  not 
mar  the  kindness  by  doing  it  ungraciously ;  for 
he   followed  his  first   imyndse,   as  well  as  his 
fixed  principle ;  yet  the  good  he  did  returned 
not  into  his  own  bosom.      He  did  not   know 
why :  he  did  not  guess  at  the  obliquity  of  prin- 
ciple   that   poisoned     the    spring    of    gladness 
within  him ;  he  did   not    therefore  feel  that  it 
was  increasing ;  and  he  was  dull,  without  know- 
ing how  to  account  for  it.     As  he  pondered  over 
his  present  feelings,  and  views  of  life,  with  the 
recollection  of  how  differently  for  one  moment 
he  had  thought  and  felt,  the  sorceress  arose  be- 
fore him  ;  and  for  the  first  time  since  she  had 
left  him,  he   reflected  upon   her  conduct  with 
curiosity  unmingled  with  bitterness.      Now  that 
her  influence  was  at  an  end,  it  seemed  to  him 
to  have  been  the  work  of  magic  ;  and  he  mar- 
velled at  his   own   infatuation,  as  the  sobered 
man  wonders  to  hear  related  the  absurdities  of 
which  in  his  drunken  fit  he  had  been  guilty. 
He  thought  how  near  he  had  been  attaching  his 
fate  for  ever  to  this  ungrateful  woman,  and  he 


90  DE    LISLE. 

knew  that  he  ought  to  be  thankful  for  his  es- 
cape. But  the  allusion  had  made  him  happy  ; 
and  though  ashamed  to  think  so,  he  regretted 
it, — regretted  it  the  more,  because  he  felt  it 
was  over  for  life.  "  Well,  be  it  so,"  thought  he, 
impatiently,  scorning  himself  for  the  feelings  he 
discovered  on  examining  his  own  heart :  "Is 
it  grievous  that  I  can  be  deceived  no  more  ?" 
Again  he  repressed  the  thoughts  that  burned, 
but  for  want  of  space  could  not  consume  within 
his  breast,  and  Therese  was  again  forgotten. 

Not  many  days  after.  Lady  De  Lisle,  who 
soon  wearied  of  the  society  in  her  house,  ex- 
tensive as  it  generally  was,  invited  half  the 
neighbourhood  to  dinner.  Three  of  the  fami- 
lies were  musical,  and  as  such  welcome  to  Hu- 
bert, who  in  the  bustle  of  an  election  had  found 
no  time  for  sweet  sounds.  There  was  a  youth- 
ful group  assembled  after  tea  in  the  music- 
room,  and  De  Lisle  heard  with  pleasure  that 
they  all  sang.  He  left  it  to  his  mother,  how- 
ever, to  settle  who  was  to  begin,  and  what 
music  was  to  be  fixed  upon ;  for  Hubert  could 
not  hang  upon  a  lady's  chair,  and  twist  the 
hacknied  words  of  a  song  into  some  compliment 
as  hacknied  to  the  fair  songstress. 

By  degrees,  trios,  duetts,  and  single  songs. 


DE    LISLE.  91 

were  got  through,  interlarded  with  those  alter- 
cations that  always  take  place  among  young 
persons  not  accustomed  to  play  or  sing  toge- 
ther. There  were  some  sweet  voices,  and  some 
powerful  ones ;  but  tiiey  blended  but  indiffe- 
rently :  there  was  some  science,  and  some  taste; 
but  unluckily  they  did  not  meet  in  the  same 
performers ;  and  Hubert,  who  loved  music, 
but  could  not  be  content  with  the  mere  jingle  of 
cheerful  sounds,  was  turning  disappointed  away, 
when  his  foot  struck  against  a  box  on  the  floor. 
Lady  De  Lisle  inquired  what  it  could  be,  and 
her  son  held  it  up  to  view. 

"  That,"  said  Mrs.  Parry,  a  quiet,  benevo- 
lent-looking woman,  near  whom  Hubert  gene- 
rally stationed  himself,  '^  is  Augusta's  guitar  ; 
but,  as  there  seems  no  want  of  instruments  or 
performers  to-night,  I  did  not  think  of  men- 
tioning it." 

"  Oh  I  but  I  never  heard  Miss  Parry's  voice  to 
the  guitar,"  said  Lady  De  Lisle;  "  so  pray,  Hu- 
bert, take  it  out  of  its  box,  and  carry  it  to  her." 

Hubert  did  as  he  was  bid ;  and  as  Augusta 
was  extremely  pretty,  and  sang  well,  he  rather 
looked  as  if  he  wished  what  he  asked.  Augusta 
smiled,  laid  her  finger  on  her  lips — for  though 
she  liked  to  be  listened  to  herself,  she  was  too 


92  DE    LISLE. 

good-natured  not  to  listen  in  her  turn  to  others, 
— and  taking  the  guitar,  she  placed  it  on  the 
table,  while  Hubert  quietly  walked  back  to 
the  place  he  had  quitted.  When  the  song  was 
over,  Augusta's  companions  surrounded  her  to 
gaze  on  the  instrument,  which  was  a  novelty  to 
them,  and  ask  questions,  sensible  or  frivolous, 
according  to  their  dispositions.  All  united  in 
desire  to  hear  it,  and  Miss  Parry  was  per- 
fectly willing  to  gratify  them.  As  she  slung 
the  ribbon  which  was  attached  to  it  over  her 
shoulder,  and  stood  among  her  young  com- 
peers in  a  graceful  and  picturesque  attitude, 
Hubert  thought  he  had  never  seen  a  fairer 
form,  or  more  interesting  actress.  She  sang 
several  Spanish  and  Portuguese  airs,  with  all 
the  spirit  and  softness  which  national  ballads 
require ;  and  there  was  something  in  the  wild 
and  simple  tone  so  true  to  Nature,  that  those 
who  understood  least  of  music  were  ready  to 
be  delighted — perhaps  more  ready  than  the 
others.  The  effect,  however,  was  great  on  all, 
and  even  Hubert  drew  near  to  add  his  word 
of  praise.  Augusta's  bright  eyes  sought  the 
ground,  to  conceal  their  increased  brilliancy, 
at  the  unexpected  encomium  of  the  tranquil  De 
Lisle. 


DE    LISLE.  93 

Miss  Parry  was  so  very  young,  that  many 
prudent  mothers  wondered  at  her  being  let 
out  of  her  nursery.  Mrs.  Parry  listened  to 
various  friendly  suggestions  upon  this  topic, 
and  her  neighbours  sometimes  thought  they 
had  prevailed  upon  "  dear  good  Mrs.  Parry" 
to  imitate  their  superior  watchfulness;  but 
Augusta's  beauty  and  her  singing  made  her 
at  once  so  useful  and  ornamental,  that  no  one 
thought  of  a  dance  or  a  musical  party  without 
relying  upon  her,  and  finding  excellent  reasons 
for  theirs  being  the  only  house  to  which  in 
prudence  so  young  a  girl  might  come.  The 
result  was,  that  she  went  to  all ;  and  as  long  as 
their  county  afforded  not  sufficient  dissipation 
to  steal  the  bloom  from  her  cheek,  Mrs.  Parry 
was  content.  So  too  was  Augusta,  who  to  a 
playful,  childish  manner  united  not  merely  the 
spirit  of  coqueting,  but  its  system.  Girls,  in 
general,  rejoice  in  going  out  as  an  indulgence, 
and  find  pleasure  enough  in  novelty  ; — not  so  the 
beauteous  daughter  of  General  Parry.  She  did 
not  try  flirtation  as  an  excitement  to  destroy 
the  weariness  that  attaches  to  dissipation — she 
thought  of  that  only^  and  all  other  things  were 
made  subservient  to  the  ruling  passion.  There 
was  so  much  cheerful  urbanity  in  her  manner, 


94  d£  lisle. 

so  much  good-nature  in  her  open  countenance, 
something  so  airy  and  comic  in  her  natural  way 
of  expressing  herself,  that  she  was  a  universal 
favourite ;  and  could  make  advances,  or  glance 
sarcasms,  in  any  quarter  she  chose,  unsuspected 
and  unreproved.  It  was  not  likely,  in  her  rage 
for  conquest,  that  Hubert  should  be  overlook- 
ed ;  but  Augusta  was  no  contemptible  observer 
of  character,  for  on  that  depended  her  success ; 
and  vanity,  in  some  cases,  is  very  clear-sighted. 
She  had  known  the  De  Lisles  from  her  child- 
hood, and  was  perfectly  aware  that  Hubert  was 
not  to  be  taken  by  storm.  Open  flattery,  and 
the  undisguised  wish  to  please,  have  charms  for 
most  men  who  have  lived  long  enough  in  the 
world  to  have  sometimes  met  with  unexpected 
neglect,  and  oftener  with  attention,  sufficient  to 
blunt  their  perception  of  a  more  reserved  good- 
will. But  the  youthful  spirit,  refined  and  de- 
licate, likes  to  make  discoveries  in  sentiment,-— 
not  to  have  all  the  trouble  taken  away,  and  all 
the  mystery  destroyed. 

Augusta,  perhaps,  did  not  say  all  this  to  her- 
self; but  instinct  in  young  minds,  where  every 
thing  is  fresh,  and  each  impression  stands  se- 
parate, and  unconfounded  with  another,  will 
bring  as  accurate  a  result  as   experience  and 


DE    LISLE.  95 

calculation.  She  resolved  first  to  pique  the 
self-love  of  Hubert  by  extreme  carelessness, 
and  then  to  find  some  way  to  impress  upon  him 
the  conviction  of  a  preference  she  chose  not  to 
betray.  She  well  knew,  that,  with  a  countenance 
and  manner  so  flexible,  she  had  it  always  in  her 
power  to  attract,  were  it  only  by  inspiring  cu- 
riosity :  but  this  was  not  her  cue  with  Hubert. 
So  slight  a  feeling  might  give  way,  as  soon  as  a 
handsomer  or  more  skilful  person  appeared  on 
the  stage  to  dispute  him  with  her.  No ;  she 
determined,  if  he  was  to  care  at  all  for  her,  to 
bind  him  by  no  feeble  chain  that  could  be 
broken  at  will.  There  was  something  so  un- 
designing,  to  all  appearance,  in  the  careless 
good-humour  with  which  she  now  replied  to  his 
observations.  She  seemed  so  engrossed  with 
her  songs  and  her  female  companions,  and  so 
unconscious  of  his  being  still  there,  except  when 
he  actually  addressed  her,  that  Hubert  felt 
both  surprised  and  amused.  There  was  a  sort 
of  charm  in  this  artlessness ;  and  he  almost 
thought  with  regret,  that  it  could  never  last. 
Once  in  the  world,  he  thought  how  soon  will 
all  this  vanish  !  Whatever  she  may  feel,  good 
breeding  will  prevent  her  showing  how  entirely 
she  forgets  the  existence  of  those  who  are  stand- 


96  DE    LISLE. 

ing  before  her !  With  all  his  distrust,  he 
dreamed  not  of  fraud  in  one  so  young  and  na- 
tural :  thus  was  he  as  effectually  deceived  as 
the  most  ardent,  generous,  and  confiding  of  men 
could  have  been. 

The  folding-doors  at  the  end  of  the  music- 
room  were  now  thrown  open,  and  displayed  the 
supper- table  in  the  adjoining  apartment,  round 
which,  by  degrees,  every  one  gathered.  Au- 
gusta lingered  to  collect  her  songs  and  put  up 
her  guitar.     Hubert  assisted  her. 

"  Will  you  not  sing  this  one  song  to  me. 
Miss  Parry,""  he  said,  as  she  was  closing  her 
book,  and  his  eye  caught  a  particular  favourite. 

"  I  never  did  sing  it  as  it  is  set  there,"  she 
replied,  "  or  alone ;  but  if  you  will  sing  with 
me,  I  will  play  it  in  my  own  way." 

Augusta  saw  him  hesitate;  she  knew  his 
shyness,  and,  getting  up,  she  closed  the  doors. 
Laughingly  resuming  her  seat,  she  said  :  "  The 
song  is  rather  too  much  for  me,  and  I  could 
not  bear  to  frighten  every  one  with  the  ugly 
faces  I  must  make." 

Hubert  thought  it  would  be  difficult  to  dis- 
tort her  handsome  features,  and  half  smiled  at 
her  caring  so  little  whether  he  saw  them  or  not. 
They  got  through  their    song ;  and  Augusta 


DE    LISLE.  9T 

nearly  forgot  that  she  did  not  mean  to  praise 
him,  so  much  was  she  pleased  with  his  voice 
and  style. 

"  I  had  no  notion,"  she  said,  "  you  liked 
music." 

Had  Hubert  been  in  the  Palace  of  Truth, 
he  might,  with  all  the  simplicity  of  self-love, 
have  expressed  his  wonder ;  but  he  was  only 
in  his  own  house,  and  smiling,  replied,  ''  I  can 
just  fancy  the  possibility  of  your  neither  know- 
ing, or  caring  to  know,  my  tastes  and  predi- 
lections." 

Augusta  smiled  to  herself,  for  this  was  exact- 
ly what  she  wanted.  With  her  cheerful,  open 
look,  she  immediately  answered  :  "  Oh  !  cer- 
tainly, there  is  no  law  for  our  keeping  a  journal 
of  each  other's  accomplishments."  This  simple 
way  of  agreeing  with  him  did  not  mend  the 
matter,  yet  he  constrained  himself  to  say  : 

"  Miss  Parry's  are  too  evident  to  require  a 
journal." 

"  Too  much  displayed,  I  suppose  you  raean,**' 
she  rejoined  quickly ;  and,  as  if  to  finish 
the  conversation,  struck  a  few  chords  on  the 
organ. 

"  Oh  !  do  go  on  ;  but  let  me  blow.    You  need 
not  work  double  tides." 
Vol.  I.  F 


98  DE    LISLE. 

Augusta  did  go  on,  and  it  was  well  for  Hu- 
bert that  his  occupation  was  a  mere  mechanical 
one.  She  played  a  German  piece,  sad,  slow, 
and  magnificent ;  the  very  piece  Therese  de- 
lighted in,  which  De  Lisle  had  never  heard 
played  but  by  her.  In  vain  was  now  the  taste 
and  feeling  of  Augusta  displayed,  in  vain  her 
youth  and  beauty.  A  form  filled  the  mind  of 
Hubert,  less  fair,  less  fresh,  but  once  how  dear ! 
He' remembered  every  turn,  every  pause  in  the 
playing  of  Madame  de  Lausanne  ;  he  remem- 
bered her  countenance,  so  singular,  so  sublime, 
so  in  unison  with  the  wild  impassioned  melody 
she  produced.  He  started  as  from  a  dream  as 
Augusta  abruptly  broke  off,  for  the  carriage 
was  at  the  door,  and  Mrs.  Parry  summoned 
her  daughter.  Hubert  took  the  hand  of 
Augusta  to  lead  her  out,  and  helped  his  father 
to  wrap  her  in  her  shawl ;  but  he  could  not 
speak ;  and  Augusta,  aware  of  the  effect  she  had 
produced,  though  entirely  ignorant  of  what  his 
impression  really  was,  augured  well  from  his 
silence. 

The  night  was  fresh,  and  the  air  seemed 
to  restore  some  order  to  De  Lisle's  faculties  ;  he 
loitered  on  the  steps,  even  after  the  last  car- 
riage had  driven  off,  and  the  last  farewell  had 


DE    LISLE.  99 

been  exchanged.  When  he  did  enter  the  house, 
he  turned  mechanically  to  the  music-room.  It 
was  deserted ;  Sir  Francis  and  Lady  De  Lisle 
had  not  returned  to  it,  and  it  received  no  light 
but  from  the  servants'  candles  in  the  supper- 
room,  who  were  busily  removing  the  food. 

Hubert  sat  down  by  the  organ,  unconscious 
that  he  should   soon  be  left  in  utter  obscurity. 
Finding,   however,  that  this  was  the    case,  as 
the  last   servant  withdrew  he  raised  his  voice 
to  ask  for  a  light,  but   was  not   heard.       The 
sudden  stillness   and  'darkness  that    succeeded 
a   brilliant   party,    did    not   tend   to  turn    his 
thoughts  from  what  now  engrossed  them.     His 
hand    dropped    upon     the     organ.      Though 
ignorant  of   music,    he  possessed   a   sufficient- 
ly  good  ear  to  play  from  memory   any  thing 
that    had  pleased   him.      He    could  not  resist 
trying    what    Augusta    had    left    unfinished. 
He  played  it  over  and  over  again,  each  time 
trying  to  imitate  Madame  de  Lausanne's  man- 
ner   more,    and   each    time    thinking    less    of 
Augusta  Parry.      The    effect    of    music    can 
only  be  understood  by  those  who  love   it.     Hu- 
bert at  last  bent  his  head  over  the  organ,  and 
burst   into  tears.     They  did   not  all  flow  for 
Therese,  but  they  were  associated  with  her : 

F  2 


100  DE    LISLE. 

and  they  were  the  first  he  had  given  to  her  and 
his  lost  happiness.  At  last  he  felt  them  fall 
upon  his  hand,  and  started,  ashamed,  though 
in  darkness  and  alone,  that  ever  they  could  have 
had  existence. 

He  retired  to  his  own  apartment,  and  awoke 
on   the   following  morning  in  nearly  his  usual 
state  of  quietude.     Still  the  same  idea  haunted 
him  to  which  he  had  yielded  the  evening  before. 
"  If  I  could  see  her,"  he  thought,  "  and  hear 
from  her  own  lips  why  she  left  me,  the  matter 
would  be  at  rest  at  once  ;  and  when  the  mys- 
tery ceased,  even  my  curiosity  would  have  an 
end.''     True,  he  knew  not  where  to  find  her ; 
but  she  had  gone  to  Paris,  and  could  easily  be 
traced.     Lionel   was  there,   and   he  could  not 
have  a  better  ostensible  reason  for  taking  that 
route.     He  considered  of  it  a  little  longer,  and 
nothing  occurring   to    turn  his  thoughts    into 
any  other  channel,  he  told  his  father  he  had 
decided  on  adopting  the  plan  proposed  by  him, 
and  with  but  little  delay  began  his  journey. 


DE    LISLE.  101 


CHAPTER  IX. 

By  the  time  Hubert  had  reached  Paris, 
the  motive  for  the  exertion  was  so  much  weak- 
ened as  to  be  nearly  lost.  Sentiments  and  af- 
fections that  actually  exist  when  brought  to 
the  trial,  cannot  but  overpower  the  mere  re- 
membrance of  feelings  and  passions,  however 
powerful  at  their  birth.  The  first  thought  with 
young  De  Lisle,  when  he  awoke  in  the  capital 
of  France,  was,  "  To-day  I  shall  see  my  friend;'' 
and  he  sallied  forth  in  pursuit  of  him,  with  a 
degree  of  eagerness  that  would  have  convinced 
any  beholder  that  it  was  indeed  friendship  that 
had  drawn  him  across  the  sea.  The  young  men 
met  with  nearly  equal  pleasure  ;  they  said  little, 
indeed,  about  it;  it  was  not  their  way :  and  since 
each  knew  what  the  other  thought,  it  was  unne- 
cessary to  indulge  the  spectators  with  a  scene. 
Some  foreigners,  who  were    present,   gazed  on 


102  DE    LISLE. 

the  English  meeting  as  we  should   examine  a 
curiosity  in  nature. 

"  Behold,"  said  they,  "  the  greeting  of  friends  I 
and  after  the  unexpected  appearance  of  one  of 
them  too  !" 

''  English  sensibility,  gentlemen,"  said  Henry, 
who  was  sufficiently  recovered  to  be  of  the  party, 
"  does  not,  I  confess,  sparkle  like  your  Cham- 
paign, but  neither  does  it  become  dead  when 
exposed  to  the  air  ;"  and  as  he  spoke,  he  rose 
languidly  from  his  chair  and  held  out  his  hand 
to  Hubert.  The  latter  beheld  with  pleasure 
the  astonishing  improvement  in  the  appearance 
of  the  invalid. 

"  I  am  not  ungrateful  to  Paris,""  said  Henry 
smiling,  "  yet  I  cannot  attribute  to  its  salubrity 
alone  my  renovation.  You  do  not  know  that 
Frank  is  of  our  party  ?'' 
"  Your  brother  ! — and  since  when  ?'" 
^'  He  arrived  just  as  we  were  leaving  Eng- 
land ;  his  ship  is  repairing,  and  he  has  accom- 
panied us  hither  in  so  elevated  a  state  of  spirits, 
that,  much  as  I  admire  them,  I  am  occasionally 
forced  to  fly  and  take  refuge  from  the  whirl- 
wind in  the  quiet  of  my  own  apartment.'^ 

"  Don't  make  Hubert  quake,"  said    Lionel 
laughing,  ''  before  the  time ;   I  dare  say  he  will 


DE    LISLE.  lOS 

give  in,  and  confess  himself  overpowered,  almost 
as  soon  as  you." 

The  conversation  was  interrupted  by  the  en- 
trance of  its  subject.     Frank  Seymour  had  just 
been  made  master  and  commander,  and  had  not 
yet  recovered  from  the  transport  with  which  he 
first  heard  of  his  promotion.     It  had,  indeed, 
been   deserved   by  a  very  gallant  action;    but 
spirit  and  skill  are  so  common  in  the  British 
navy,  that  each  particular  trait  can  hardly  meet 
its  reward,  and  as  Seymour  knew  he  had  not 
much  home  interest,  he  was  not  sanguine.     In 
proportion  to  the  modesty  of  his  expectations, 
was  the  feeling  of  enchantment  with  which  he 
met  his  success.     Bold,  impetuous,  noble-minded 
and  generous,  he  swayed  all  around  him,  both 
by  his  amiable  qualities  and  his  defects.     So 
warm  a  friend  was  worth  securing,  and  so  vehe- 
ment an  opponent  could  not  be  borne  down. 
He  was  always  in  motion,  always  doing  some- 
thing ;  and  if  he  were  not  suffered  to  do  good, 
no  one  doubted,  that  sooner  than  be  quiet  he 
would  do  mischief. 

His  language  partook  of  the  warmth  of  his 
character  ;  neither  words  or  feelings  ever  failed 
him :  his  eloquence,  therefore,  was  resistless, 
though  in  common  conversation  he  wanted  the 


104  DE    LISLE. 

singular  polish  of  Lionel,  or  the  refined  cor- 
rectness of  Henry.  Easily  exasperated,  and  as 
easily  soothed,  if  either  wit  or  kindness  were 
displayed  by  his  adversaries,  he  was  always 
a  prominent  feature,  whenever  a  generous  pro- 
tector or  an  amusing  companion  was  required. 

Adored  by  the  common  sailors  for  his  mirth 
and  liberality,  caressed  from  love  or  fear  by  his 
equals,  and  favoured  for  his  talents  by  his  supe- 
riors, Frank  always  contrived  to  be  at  the  head 
of  every  thing,  in  the  secret  of  every  thing,  and 
amongst  his  companions,  invariably  the  pro- 
moter of  every  thing.  Even  on  shore,  no  one 
seemed  willing  to  contend  with  him ;  and  what 
Captain  Seymour  arranged,  was  like  the  laws 
of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  that  none  should 
gainsay. 

In  outward  appearance  he  was  not  less  strik- 
ing than  in  disposition.  In  figure  he  scarcely 
rose  above  the  common  height,  but  a  degree  of 
erectness,  rather  rare  in  his  profession,  added 
to  a  certain  haughty  bearing,  impressed  the 
beholder  with  a  conviction  of  strength  and 
loftiness  beyond  his  actual  proportion.  His 
head  was  small,  its  peculiar  shape  partly  con- 
cealed by  short  thick  curls  of  the  darkest  hue, 
which  sprung  back  from  an  ample  forehead,  the 


D£    LISLE.  105 

fairness  of  which  was  a  strong  contrast  to  his 
sunburnt  features.  Nor  were  those  features  less 
peculiar  than  his  air  and  carriage.  A  small  eye, 
sunk  beneath  a  projecting  brow,  seemed  placed 
there  to  prove  that  a  blue  eye  need  not  be  soft : 
it  was  open,  clear,  and  restless,  like  a  flickering 
light  flashing  across  a  gloomy  cavern.  A  short, 
full  upper  lip,  with  a  chin  as  short,  but  slightly 
projecting,  completed  the  contour  of  a  face, 
which  Hubert  thought  unique  in  its  kind. 

His  manner  was  not  exactly  calculated  to 
meet  the  approbation  of  his  new  acquaintance ; 
it  was  too  impetuous,  too  dictatorial,  for  one  so 
jealous  of  his  own  freewill.  His  voice,  though 
sufficiently  harmonious  not  to  hurt  the  ear,  was 
grating  to  the  soul  of  De  Lisle;  for  its  loud 
tone  was  too  much  that  of  command. 

Lionel  saw  his  friend  shrink  from  his  brother 
with  regret,  and  strove  to  reconcile  him  to  th^ 
ruggedness  and  boisterous  style  to  which  he  had 
hitherto  been  so  little  accustomed.  This  was 
easily  done,  by  recounting  some  of  those  traits 
of  heroism  and  feeling,  in  which  the  life  of  the 
sailor  abounded ;  and  Hubert  readily  acknow- 
ledged, that  he  might  be  pardoned  for  asserting 
a  little  too  cavalierly  the  superiority  he  really 
possessed. 

F  5 


106  DE    LISLE. 

Captain  Seymourj  on  his  part,  was  no  way 
disposed  to  repel  a  person  he  admired,  and 
even  respected,  more  than  he  was  wont  to  respect 
any  one.  It  was  nearly  a  novelty  to  him,  to 
meet  with  either  man  or  woman,  over  whom  his 
rapid,  decisive  manner,  produced  no  controul; 
and  though  he  preferred  living  with  persons  more 
easily  governed,  he  felt  an  esteem,  approaching 
to  deference,  for  the  courteous  inflexibility  of 
his  former  school-fellow. 

While  the  intimacy  of  these  young  men  was 
rapidly  approaching  the  confines  of  friendship, 
Hubert  learned  that  Madame  de  Lausanne  was 
at  Vienna,  and  thither  he  proposed  going,  when 
Captain  Seymour's  leaA^e  of  absence  should  ex- 
pire. Lionel  talked  then  of  moving  the  invalid, 
who  could  now  scarce  be  called  one,  by  slow 
journies  to  the  South ;  and  it  would  be  easy  for 
Hubert  to  overtake  them  on  Spanish  ground, 
where  they  proposed  lingering,  in  order  to  visit 
their  sister,  who  had  taken  the  veil,  in  a  convent 
not  far  distant  from  Salvatiera. 

The  person  who  gave  Hubert  a  clue  by  which 
to  find  Th6rese,  was  the  very  youth  who  had 
brought  her  to  Paris.  Accident  threw  this  Mr. 
de  la  Sablonniere  in  his  way,  and  aware  that  no 


BE    LISLE.  107 

motive  would  be  thought  by  a  perfect  stranger 
to  lurk  beneath  his  curiosity,  he  boldly  asked  his 
question  at  once,  and  was  replied  to  as  a  matter 
of  mere  conversation  by  the  foreigner. 

"  Did  you  know  her  well  ?"  carelessly  asked 
the  sprig  of  Diplomacy,  taking  a  pinch  of  snufF 
as  he  spoke,  and  looking  another  way,  while  he 
continued  to  balance  himself  upon  one  leg,  as  if 
rehearsing  in  his  own  mind  the  last  new  step 
that  had  been  applauded  at  the  Opera. 

"  What  a  way  to  mention  her  in  !"  thought  De 
Lisle :  but  far  from  betraying  what  he  felt,  he 
affected  as  much  indifference,  if  not  as  much 
levity,  as  the  Frenchman,  and  answered : 

**  Enough  at  least  to  admire  her  talents." 

"  Ay,  she  is  clever  !  not  that  she  took  me  in. 
She  has  been  overrated,  rely  upon  it.  Remem- 
ber what  I  tell  you ;  this  woman,  with  her  ac- 
complishments and  her  fascinations,  might  act  a 
great  part;  but  she  has  little  views,  small  objects. 
A  woman  of  virtue  does  well  not  to  be  am- 
bitious, but  in  her  class  it  is  dastardly  and  mean- 
spirited.  She  takes  as  much  trouble  to  govern 
an  individual,  as  would  answer  to  rule  an  em- 
pire ;  and  what,  after  all,  is  one  man  T' 

"  Yet  I  imagine  you  were  content  with  her 


108  DE    LISLE. 

predilection  for  one  man,  when  you  offered  to 
escort  her  to  this  country,"  said  Hubert,  with  a 
*orced  smile. 

**  Pardon  me !  there  was  no  predilection  in 
the  case.  It  suited  her  to  travel  with  me  ;  she 
gained  expedition  and  security  ;  and  it  suited 
me  to  have  a  person  I  could  speak  to,  when  I 
was  tired  of  writing  and  thinking.  We  were 
very  good  friends ;    no  more." 

"  Indeed  !  no  more  ?" 

Mr.  de  la  Sablonniere  smiled  at  the  tone 
of  incredulity  with  which  his  words  were  re- 
echoed, and  changing  his  manner  from  abstract- 
ed fatuity  to  calm  seriousness,  asked  whether 
Hubert  thought  it  impossible  to  avoid  being 
in  love  with  Madame  de  Lausanne  ? 

The  Englishman  coloured,  for  the  question 
implied  that  he  had  betrayed  himself.  He  dis- 
claimed, of  course,  the  necessity  of  any  super- 
abundant tenderness,  but  confessed  he  admired 
the  self-command  of  any  man,  who  could  travel 
with  Therese,  and  aspire  to  nothing  beyond  the 
friendliness  of  a  chance  acquaintance. 

"  Our  journey  was  short,"  replied  the  fo- 
reigner, "  and  I  had  much  to  occupy  me.  I  had 
no  time  to  make  myself  pleasing  to  a  woman." 


DE    LISLE.  109 

''  Yet  her  conversation  must  have  had  charms 
for  you  ?" 

"  Yes,  she  was  agreeable.  I  thought  so  at 
the  moment ;  but  I  repeat,  I  had  other  things  to 
think  of,  that  touched  me  more  nearly.  Had 
I  been  idle  and  unoccupied,  I  dare  say  I  should 
have  persuaded  myself  into  an  attachment  to 
put  away  the  time;  as  it  was,  I  did  not  even 
get  the  length  of  interest,  respecting  my  fair 
companion.  She  was  too  sensible  to  be  helpless 
and  terrified  about  nothing ;  I  saw  no  symptoms 
of  either  grief  or  poverty,  which  might  have 
excited  my  sympathy ;  and  I  must  confess, 
though  it  is  not  flattering  to  my  self-love,  I  saw 
yet  fewer  of  any  attachment  to  myself." 

Hubert  breathed  more  freely,  and  with  a  less 
constrained  air  rallied  him  upon  the  unreason- 
ableness of  expecting  a  woman  to  fall  in  love 
with  him,  while  receiving  so  little  encourage- 
ment on  his  part.  The  conversation  then  took 
another  turn,  and  though  the  young  men  met 
frequently  afterwards,  the  subject  was  never 
renewed. 

Hubert  continued  to  linger  at  Paris  till  the 
Seymours  had  separated  and  left  it,  and  then 
more  from  not  quite  knowing  what   to  do  with 


110  DE    LISLE. 

himself,  than  from  any  remaining  desire  again 
to  see  Madame  de  Lausanne,  proceeded  to  put 
his  original  plan  into  execution. 

He  travelled  rapidly  to  Vienna,  and  having 
letters  of  introduction  that  threw  him  into  very 
pleasant  society  in  that  town,  his  wish  to  trace 
Therese  was  suffered  to  lie  dormant  for  some 
time.  It  is  possible,  that  it  might  have  been 
altogether  forgotten,  had  he  not  heard  a  gen- 
tleman at  the  Ambassador's  table  called  by  a 
name  that  made  him  start.  Here,  then,  was 
the  present  protector  of  Madame  De  Lausanne, 
and  she  was  probably  not  many  streets  distant 
from  him. 

He  wondered  at  the  sudden  acceleration  of 
his  pulse,  for,  after  all,  she  had  been  scarcely 
remembered  !  He  asked  some  questions  of  his 
next  neighbour,  respecting  the  Baron  De  Wer- 
ner, and  found  he  was  a  younger  son,  likely  to 
make  a  figure  in  diplomacy,  but  less  rich  in 
worldly  possessions  than  in  mental  store.  He  was 
a  resident  in  Vienna,  and  was  then  on  the  point 
of  visiting  his  elder  brother,  who,  if  report  could 
be  credited,  did  not  suffer  the  gloom  of  his  Gothic 
castle  in  Stiria  to  prey  upon  his  spirits.  The 
person  who  gave  this  account  was  an  Italian, 


DE    LISLE.  ill 

and  sundry  smiles  and  grimaces  completed  the 
effect  of  the  innuendo. 

On  the  following  morning  Hubert  sent  to 
Werner's,  to  inquire  for  Madame  De  Lausanne. 
She  was  not  there,  nor  had  any  woman  ever 
shared  the  confined  lodging  of  the  diploma- 
tist. With  such  unsatisfactory  intelligence,  Mr. 
De  Lisle^s  servant  did  not  like  to  return,  and 
he  begged  the  landlady  would  inquire  of  her 
lodger  where  she  might  be  found.  The  answer 
was,  *'  Most  probably  at  my  brother's  ;"  and 
Hubert  almost  felt  relieved  that  she  was  not  in 
the  same  town  with  him.  Should  he  seek  her 
any  farther  or  not  ?  He  thought  not.  What 
right  had  he  to  enter  the  castle  of  a  stranger  ? 
He  sighed  as  he  relinquished  all  idea  of  seeing 
her :  he  should  never,  then,  know  the  motives 
of  her  conduct ;  never  guess  how  far  she  had 
been  sincere  in  those  sentiments  which  had  once 
given  him  so  much  pleasure,  and  ended  in  such 
withering  disappointment. 

"  Be  it  so  !""  thought  he ;  "  doubtless  in  the 
course  of  my  Ufe  she  will  not  be  the  only  per- 
son I  shall  not  understand.*'  Although  he  had 
remained  so  long  in  Vienna,  without  bestowing 
much  thought  on  Therese,  it  seemed  to  him. 


112  DE    LISLE. 

now  that  he  was  not  to  see  her,  as  if  no  motive 
was  left  for  lingering  there.  At  an  assembly 
where  he  went  in  the  evening,  he  inquired  what 
he  had  omitted  seeing  in  the  town,  or  its  envi- 
rons, for  his  time  was  drawing  to  a  close,  and 
he  thought  of  soon  joining  his  friends. 

"  You  know  nothing  of  Germany,"  said  an 
old  nobleman,  to  whom  he  had  addressed  him- 
self, "  by  a  visit  to  its  capital.  Here  you  see 
distinguished  characters,  courtiers,  and  foreign- 
ers, but  little  of  the  simplicity  and  domestic 
affections  that  constitute  the  charm  of  our 
country  life  and  the  superiority  of  our  manners. 
I  go  to-morrow  from  this  dissipated  city  to  the 
tranquil  residence  of  my  ancestors ;  come  with 
me,  and  I  will  show  you  a  beautiful  country, 
a  grateful  tenantry,  and  a  happy  family." 

There  is  nothing  so  touching  as  the  enthu- 
siasm of  age.  We  feel  it  must  be  genuine,  to 
have  resisted  the  numberless  attacks  made  on  it 
by  time,  calamities,  and  disappointments.  Hu- 
bert was  affected,  and  pleased :  he  accepted 
the  offered  hospitality,  and  had  no  cause  to 
regret  it. 


DE    LISLE.  113 


CHAPTER  X. 

Age EE ABLE  and  interesting   as   De  Lisle's 
visit  proved,  he  was  loth  to  trespass  too  much 
on  the  kindness  of  persons  of  whom  he  knew 
so  little,  and  fixed  accordingly  an  early  day  for 
his  departure.     The  English  feeling  was  but 
little   understood   by  the   family   of  his   host. 
Their's  was  not  the  courtesy  that  can   affect 
kindness  for  a  few  days  only,  but  grows  impa- 
tient and  restive,  if  put  to  a  longer  trial.    They 
received  the  stranger  with  that  attention  which 
proceeds  from  a  heart  overflowing  with  kind- 
ness ;  and  in  proportion  as  his  manners  and  sen- 
timents won  their  approbation,  they  ceased   to 
remember  the  date  of  their  acquaintance.    They 
heard  him  allude  to  his  departure,  therefore, 
with  grief,  but  the  duties  of  friendship  were  sa- 
cred in  their  eyes,  and  not  a  word  was  said  to 
stagger  his  resolution. 


114  DE    LISLE. 

On  the  last  day  but  one  of  his  remaining  with 
them,  he  was  surprised  by  the  appearance  of 
Werner.  This  young  man  was  on  his  way  to 
his  brother'^s,  and  Hubert  learned  with  emotion 
that  he  had  himself  been  for  the  last  week  with- 
in a  drive  of  Madame  de  Lausanne.  His  irre- 
solution returned.  He  was  absent,  and  out  of 
spirits  through  the  evening.  Werner  readily 
attributed  his  silence  to  regret,  at  the  termina- 
tion of  his  visit ;  and  willing  to  enliven  him,  he 
talked  of  the  beauty  of  the  country  through 
which  he  had  passed. 

"  I  had  the  advantage  of  you,"  he  said,  ^*  for 
instead  of  enjoying  the  view  of  the  high  road 
from  my  carriage- window,  I  came  a  shorter  and 
more  picturesque  way,  on  horseback.  Much  as 
I  admire  what  I  have  hitherto  seen,  it  is  not, 
however,  to  be  compared  with  my  ride  to-mor- 
row. I  do  not  think  a  more  beautiful  one 
can  be  seen  than  between  this  castle  and  my 
brother's." 

"  Indeed  !'*  said  Hubert,  languidly ;  "  you 
almost  tempt  me  to  try  it."' 

"  You  cannot  do  better  than  yield  to  the 
temptation,"  said  Werner,  gaily ;  "  it  is  not 
much  out  of  your  way,  and  my  brother's  dwell- 


DE    LISLE.  115 

ing  you  will  find  any  thing  but  the  Castle  of 
Gloom." 

With  the  benevolent  wish  of  cheering  the 
spirits  of  their  guest,  the  rest  of  the  party  ap- 
plauded the  proposal;  and  the  next  morning 
saw  De  Lisle  slowly  following  his  companion 
along  the  edge  of  a  dizzy  precipice,  wondering 
to  find  himself  really  on  the  way  to  Therese. 
They  were  met  on  the  road  by  Werner's  bro- 
ther, and  a  troop  of  his  companions.  Hubert 
was  presented  to  him,  and  opened  the  conver- 
sation by  praising  the  singular  beauty  of  the 
scenery. 

*^  Yes,"  said  the  elder  Werner,  "  it  is  an  ex- 
cellent sporting  country." 

Hubert  smiled ;  but  he,  too,  was  not  indiffe- 
rent to  the  sports  of  the  field,  though  it  was  not 
the  first  idea  with  which  such  a  country  in- 
spired him  ;  and  his  remarks,  by  showing  some 
knowledge  of  the  subject,  recommended  him  not 
a  little  to  his  new  acquaintance.  After  much 
loitering  to  point  out  particular  spots  where  the 
game  was  generally  found,  the  party  at  last 
reached  the  Castle. 

It  was  nearly  dark,  and  Hubert  had  scarcely 
time  to  throw  off  his  riding-dress,  when  he  was 


116 


DE    LISLE. 


summoned  to  dinner.  As  he  went  down  stairs, 
he  remembered  it  was  at  a  dinner  he  had  first 
seen  Therese,  and  felt  rather  curious  to  see 
how  she  would  bear  the  meeting  now,  under 
such  different  circumstances.  The  plentiful 
repast  covered  the  board,  the  guests  were  as- 
sembled, but  no  female  appeared. 

"  If  she  should  not  be  here  after  all  f 
thought  Hubert ;  and  nothing,  indeed,  seemed 
more  likely,  for  why  should  she  conceal  herself  ? 
When  the  repast  concluded,  the  wine  continued 
to  circulate  freely ;  at  last  the  younger  Werner 
arose,  and  made  a  sign  to  the  Englishman,  who 
gladly  obeyed  it.  They  proceeded  in  silence 
to  a  small,  but  cheerful  apartment,  well-lighted, 
and  fitted  up  with  books. 

"  This,"  said  Werner,  "  is  my  room.  I  do 
not  condemn  you  to  it,  but  I  thought,  like  my- 
self, you  might  prefer  it  to  the  one  we  quitted." 
Hubert  expressed  his  acknowledgments,  and 
placing  himself  at  the  window,  not  to  disturb 
whatever  employment  his  considerate  companion 
might  engage  in,  amused  himself  with  watching 
the  effect  of  a  brilliant  moon  on  the  projecting 
battlements  of  the  building,  and  the  waving 
branches  of  the  tall  trees  that  surrounded  it. 
Suddenly  a  strong  perfume  of  flowers  reached 


DE    LISLE.  117 

him ;  he  remarked  upon  it,  and  was  told  it  pro- 
ceeded from  a  conservatory  on  a  line  with  the 
window,  but  at  some  distance. 

"  If  you  care  for  flowers,"  said  Werner,  "  I 
believe  there  are  some  there  worth  your  notice. 
They  suffocate  me,  and  I  seldom  go  near  them ; 
but  if  you  choose  to  go  along  this  corridor, 
through  the  chapel,  in  a  straight  line,  you  can- 
not miss  it,  and  will  find  it  open." 

Hubert  took  up  a  light,  and  proceeded  as  he 
was  directed.  No  lamp  burned  in  the  chapel ; 
it  looked  gloomy  and  desolate  ;  the  rich  crim- 
son hangings  had  lost  their  brilliancy,  and 
seemed  going  fast  to  decay.  Hubert  stopped 
for  a  moment  to  look  round  him;  he  remem- 
bered that  the  residence  of  Werner  was  famed 
for  its  gaiety. 

*'  It  is  only  here  then,"  thought  he,  "  that 
gloom  is  allowed  to  penetrate.  The  altar  of 
God  is  alone  deserted  V*  He  thought  hov/  un. 
like  the  friends  he  had  quitted ;  and  they  did 
not  lose  in  his  estimation  from  the  contrast. 

The  smell  of  the  flowers  was  more  percepti- 
ble where  he  now  stood,  and  he  had  no  difficul- 
ty, guided  by  it,  in  finding  the  door  of  the  con- 
servatory. It  was  a  very  beautiful  one,  and 
filled  with  some  of  the  most  fragrant,  as  well 


118  DE    LISLE. 

as  the  rarest  exotics.  A  large  glass-door  at  the 
farther  end  was  open,  but  a  curtain  of  white 
muslin  was  drawn  into  so  many  folds,  that  in 
spite  of  its  clearness,  he  could  discern  nothing 
of  the  adjoining  apartment.  He  approached  it 
with  noiseless  step,  for  the  soft  matting  on 
which  he  trod  returned  no  sound.  He  soon 
was  able  to  distinguish  a  small  room  of  singular 
form,  but  betraying  far  more  taste  and  elegance 
in  its  arrangement,  than  any  he  had  hitherto 
visited. 

The  light  in  the  conservatory  was  so  much 
more  brilliant  than  beyond  it,  that  for  a  mo- 
ment Hubert  overlooked  a  female  figure.  She 
was  seated  in  the  darkest  part  of  the  room,  with 
her  back  towards  him ;  but  the  outline  of  that 
form  was  not  to  be  mistaken.  It  w^as  true,  that 
Hubert  had  expected  to  meet  Therese ;  but  now 
tliat  she  was  actually  before  him,  he  felt  as  if 
an  unexpected  vision  had  crossed  him,  w^hich 
he  had  no  power  to  address.  She  was  reading, 
and  as  if  pleased  with  the  subject,  she  covered 
the  book  with  her  hand,  and  repeated  aloud 
some  lines  of  poetry.  They  were  Tasso's,  and 
were  descriptive  of  more  than  common  tender- 
ness. Her  singular  voice  lent  all  the  force  to 
his  poetry  the  Italian  bard  could  have  wished, 


M 


DE    LISLE.  119 

and  Hubert   felt  that  such   tones  had  indeed 
never  fallen  on  his  ear,  since  they  parted. 

She  paused  ;  and  De  Lisle,  yielding  to  the 
impulse  of  the  moment,  went  on  with  the  tw^o 
lines  that  concluded  the  stanza.  Madame  de 
Lausanne  arose,  and  seizing  the  taper  that 
bunied  beside  her,  came  forward,  saying  in 
German,  "  Who  are  you .?" 

"  Who  think  you  .^"  said  De  Lisle,  calmly 
raising  the  light  he  held  to  his  face.  He  gazed 
steadily  upon  her,  but  on  that  marble  counte- 
nance no  emotion  appeared.  Fear  she  could 
not  feel ;  tenderness  she  perhaps  had  never  felt; 
but  surprise  any  one  might  feel.  Yet  she  be- 
trayed not  even  that. 

Both  y/ere  silent  for  a  moment.  At  last  she 
said  "  Come  in,  and  tell  me  what  brought  you 
here.""  She  pointed  to  a  chair  at  a  distance,  and 
resumed  her  seat  in  frigid  stateliness.  Her  self- 
possession  awed  Hubert.  He  almost  felt  she  was 
the  person  to  be  offended,  and  that  it  would  be 
presumption  in  him  to  complain.  Madame  de 
Lausanne  had  a  favourite  barbette.  It  was  cross 
and  troublesome,  like  most  ladies'  pets,  and  re- 
senting the  intrusion  of  De  Lisle,  flew  at  him 
in  a  fury  of  fear  and  ferocity. 

'*  Even  your  dog  has  forgotten  me  !  "  said  he, 


120  DE    LISLE. 

as  he  gazed  at  the  aRimal  he  had  so  often  caressed 
in  the  arms  of  its  mistress. 

''  What  do  you  expect  from  such  creatures 
replied  Therese,  in  a  tone  of  sarcasm.  "Are  they 
not  taken  as  a  plaything*  an  amusement  ?  Who 
expects  from  them  the  generous  attachment 
that  is  not  in  their  class  ?  " 

"  I  confess,"  said  Hubert  with  bitterness,  ^'  I 
am  very  weak  to  call  a  thing  ungrateful  I  have 
caressed  and  fed,  because  it  returns  my  kind- 
ness with  injury,  or  at  least  the  desire  to  injure. 
I  should  have  profited  more  from  experience." 

"  And  yet,"  said  Therese  calmly,  "  of  how 
little  use  experience  has  been  to  you  !  Surprised 
and  indignant  at  what  you  think  treachery,  you 
forget  that  you  exposed  yourself  to  it,  by  the 
vanity  of  believing  that  for  you  a  miracle  had 
been  performed.  Recollect  from  what  class  you 
chose  a  being,  on  whom  to  repose  in  full  con- 
fidence. Your  own  passions  mastered  you,  and 
you  were  willing  to  expect  a  virtuous  attach- 
ment from  one  who  had  the  misfortune  to  live  at 
variance  with  the  most  indispensable  of  all  vir- 
tuous rules." 

"  This  from  you  !  *'  cried  Hubert,  "  Oh !  is 
it  you  who  should  reproach  me  for  believing 
your  mind  was  above  your  situation,  your  feel- 
ings purer  than  your  conduct  i  " 


DE    LISLE.  121 

"  I  do  not  reproach  you  with  this,  for  it  is  the 
truth.  It  is  your  inconsistency  I  quarrel  with, 
because  it  has  given  you  pain  ;  and  if  you  do  not 
rectify  your  judgment,  it  will  betray  you  again 
in  some  other  way,  and  perhaps  more  severely. 
My  past  life  should  have  made  you  doubt  what 
my  future  might  be ;  but  even  had  a  direct  in- 
spiration from  Heaven  revealed  m}^  reformation, 
could  you  ever  have  been  happy  ?  Impossible  ! 
for  no  one  is  happy  without  respectability  ; 
and  what  so  contemptible  as  the  man  who 
every  day  blushes  before  his  dependents,  for 
his  dishonoured  partner." 

'*  Did  you  think  thus,  when  you  encouraged 
the  idea  of  becoming  my  wife  ?" 

*'  I  did !  I  never  expected  much  felicity  to 
either  of  us,  but  I  thought  I  should  improve 
my  own  situation ;  that  I  might  escape  being 
thoroughly  known  in  a  strange  land,  and  there- 
fore, might  possibly  draw  around  me  some  fe- 
male society.  Besides,  you  were  an  only  son, 
and  I  could  not  fancy  your  parents  would  al- 
ways be  inexorable.*" 

"  What  made  you  give  up  these  ideas.'*" 

"  A  letter  from  your  mother.'' 

Hubert  started.  "  What,  doubly  deceived  !" 
he  exclaimed,  and  hid  his  face  in  his  hands. 

VOL.  I.  G 


122  DE    LISLE. 

Madame  de  Lausanne  arose,  and  unlocking  a 
small  cabinet,  she  took  out  Lady  de  Lisle''s  let- 
ter. "  Read  it!''  she  said,  *'  but  at  some  other 
time;  and  now  that  I  have  answered  all  your 
questions,  answer  mine :  how  came  you  here  ?"" 

^'  I  came  with  young  Werner.  I  happened  to 
be  visiting  not  far  from  hence,  and  for  the  chance 
of  seeing  you,  I  came.  I  have  yet  one  thing 
to  ask,  and  then  I  will  harass  you  no  more.  Was 
I  deceived  from  the  beginning,  or  did  you  ever 
care  for  me .?" 

Therese  raised  her  fine  eyes,  and  there  was 
in  them  the  troubled  expression  he  had  so  often 
thought  inexplicable.  He  fancied  now  he  saw 
a  tear  in  them.  No,  it  was  impossible  !  He  ap- 
proached, and  pronounced  her  name  in  that 
accent  to  which  she  had  so  often  fondly  answered. 

Madame  de  Lausanne  hastily  unclosed  the 
casement,  and  in  an  altered  voice  said,  "  Does 
not  the  smell  of  the  flowers  overpower  you.? 
They  make  me  sick ;"  and  she  shuddered,  but 
De  Lisle  saw  it  was  the  sickness  of  the  mind. 

"  Farewell,"  said  he  mildly  ;  "  it  is  idle  to 
prolong  this  conversation,  which  may  torment 
you  without  doing  me  any  good."  He  paused, 
looked  at  her  for  a  moment,  then  in  a  lower 


DE    LISLE.  123 

tone,  added,   "  Farewell !    Therese,  you  have 
given  me  much  pain,  but  I  forgive  you  !" 

Madame  de  Lausanne  averted  her  face,  but 
she  held  out  her  hand,  and  faintly  pronounced 
**"  Adieu !"  He  looked  at  that  beautiful  hand 
he  had  so  fondly  admired — he  had  delighted  to 
ornament.  It  was  as  beautiful  as  when  they 
parted,  and  covered  with  as  many  sparkling 
gems,  but  they  were  the  gift  of  another !  He 
could  not  touch  it,  and  bowing  profoundly,  he 
passed  on.  All  Madame  de  Lausanne*s  self- 
controul  gave  way  at  once  ;  she  burst  into  tears, 
and  threw  herself  on  her  couch  to  conceal  her 
face.  When  she  looked  up,  De  Lisle  was  still 
there. 

''  Let  me  detain  you  no  longer,''  said  she 
haughtily,  arising.  "  I  will  owe  nothing  to 
your  compassion,  I  should  gain  nothing  from 
your  justice,  nor  have  I  any  claim  on  a  love 
that  cannot  now  exist — yet,  in  the  name  of 
those  illusions  we  have  indulged  together,  let  us 
part  friends."" 

"  Therese !"  said  Hubert  solemnly,  "  I  have 
loved  you  too  well,  and  too  lately,  to  extend  to 
you  the  simple  hand  of  friendship ;  but  trust 
me,  who  never  deceived  you,  I  cannot  be  unin- 

G    2 


124  DE    LISLE. 

terested  in  your  welfare,  and  should  you  ever 
stand  in  need  of  my  assistance,  you  will  find  I 
do  not  forget  those  who  have  once  been  dear  to 
me.  And  now,  adieu  !  I  leave  this  to-morrow." 
Madame  de  Lausanne  bowed  in  silence,  and 
slowly  Hubert  retraced  his  way  to  the  chamber 
of  Werner,  and  from  thence  shortly  after  to 
his  own. 

As  De  liisle  was  stepping  into  his  travelling 
carriage  early  the  following  morning,  he  heard 
his  name  pronounced  by  a  youthful  female 
voice.  He  looked  round,  and  beheld  a  fair  girl, 
whose  dress  was  scarcely  superior  to  the  peasant 
garb  of  the  country,  but  whose  look  and  man- 
ner had  nothing  rustic  in  them.  She  ap- 
proached, and  giving  him  a  small  parcel,  said  it 
was  from  her  mistress,  and  was  to  be  delivered 
only  into  his  hands.  She  curtsied  rather  grace- 
fully as  she  delivered  her  message,  but  before 
he  could  thank  her  she  was  gone. 

As  the  carriage  wound  round  the  castle,  Hu- 
bert lifted  his  eyes  mechanically  to  the  window 
beyond  the  conservatory.  It  was  open,  and 
by  the  uncertain  light  he  fancied  he  could  dis- 
cern a  female  fisiure.  He  thought  it  was  too 
early  for  Madame  de  Lausanne  to  be  there,  and 
yet  the  retreating  shadow  was  taller  and  more 


DE    HSLE.  125 

commanding  than  the  sylph-like  figure  of  the 
fair-haired  girl  he  had  seen  at  the  castle-gate. 
''  It  matters  not,"  thought  he,  as  an  angle  of 
the  building  concealed  the  window ;  and  yet  his 
self-love  was  unconsciously  flattered,  as  the 
fancy  flitted  across  him  that  Th^rese  was  not 
quite  indifi*erent  to  him. 

He  had  read,  the  night  before,  Lady  De 
Lisle''s  letter.  It  was  longer,  perhaps,  than  was 
necessary  ;  for  one  argument,  however  convinc- 
ing^— one  reason,  however  powerful — is  never 
enough  for  a  woman.  What  she  has  much  at 
heart,  she  never  trusts  to  one  only  stroke,  how- 
ever bold  and  judicious.  Life  is,  indeed,  so 
made  up  of  small  matters,  and  various  fluctuat- 
ing sentiments,  that  such  a  method,  perhaps,  ' 
is  less  unwise  than  many  may  think.  While 
one  thing  has  been  omitted,  however  trifling  it 
may  seem,  the  mass  of  evidence  may  be  incom- 
plete ;  and  how  often  the  very  argument  that 
seems  the  most  feeble  to  the  person  urging  it, 
has  been  found  to  have  had  most  weight  with 
the  listener. 

Lady  De  Lisle,  who  had  heard  the  report 
of  her  son's  intended  marriage  to  Madame  de 
Lausanne,  had  carefully  laboured  to  find  out 
the  sort  of  person  she  might  be.     It  was  easy 


1^6  DE    LISLE. 

for  her  to  comprehend,  that  an  artful  woman  in 
her  situation  would  desire  above  all  things  to  be 
received  by  her  lover"'s  family ;  and  might  flatter 
herself,  that  even  could  she  not  win  over  his 
parents,  some  remote  branch  might  be  found  t« 
give  her  a  degree  of  sanction.  Lady  De  Lisle, 
therefore,  laboured  to  prove  the  futility  of  these 
hopes.  She  first  insinuated,  in  every  possible 
way,  that  it  would  not  be  her  interest  to  offend 
Mr.  De  Lisle's  family  by  such  a  measure ;  and 
then,  in  case  she  might  be  generous  and  attach- 
ed to  Hubert,  she  drew  a  forcible  picture  of  his 
misery  and  degradation,  in  consequence  of  such 
a  union.  She  even  offered  her  money,  if  she 
would  immediately  break  off  the  connexion ; 
and  though  this  was  done  with  sufficient  address 
and  ingenuity,  it  was  perfectly  explicit. 

De  Lisle  did  not  think  it  possible  she  could 
have  accepted  the  offer,  though  she  owned  to 
having  quitted  him  in  consequence  of  his 
mother's  letter ;  and  yet  was  not  the  revolting 
egotism  she  had  displayed  in  their  conversa- 
tion quite  as  unlike  the  disposition  he  had  sup- 
posed hers,  as  the  being  paid  for  leaving  him 
could  be  ? 

When  he  opened  the  parcel,  he  found  ano- 
ther envelope,  and  the  following  note  : — 


DE    LISLE.  127 


<c 


You  may  deceive  yourself,  but  you  cannot 
deceive  me :  you  are  leaving  me  in  anger — that 
is  nothing,  for  it  will  die  a  natural  death  in  a 
breast  where  no  vindictive  feeling  lives :  but  you 
are  also  leaving  me  in  sorrow.  I  would  fain  di- 
minish that;  for  though  I  cannot  be  said  to  feel 
compassion  for  one  whose  very  regrets  I  envy, 
for  they  are  softer  and  purer  than  my  best 
feelings,  yet  is  your  grief  a  weight  on  my  con- 
science. You  have  deserved  to  suffer,  but  not 
through  me ;  and  I  would  willingly,  therefore, 
not  be  the  instrument  of  your  punishment. 
You  asked  me,  had  I  ever  cared  for  you  ?  and 
though  you  pitied  the  pain  the  question  gave, 
too  much  to  press  it,  I  think  I  owe  you  an 
explicit  answer. 

"  If  you  believed  that  I  won  your  affections 
by  a  system  of  fraud,  it  might  make  you 
gloomy  and  mistrustful  towards  others.  If 
your  fancy  painted  to  you  an  erring  woman, 
still  suffering  in  consequence  of  an  heroic  sa- 
crifice of  the  object  of  her  unconquered  love, 
your  compassion  would  be  more  painful  than  I 
wish  it  to  be,  and  your  opinion  of  those  in  my 
situation  false.  Had  my  education  and  my  ex- 
perience been  different,  it  is  very  possible  I 
might  have  felt  for  you  all  the  romance  of  pas- 


128  DE    LISLE. 

sion  ;  but,  alas  !  I  7iever  loved  !  I  have  wan- 
dered  on  this  troubled  globe  six-and-thirty 
years,  and  no  single  being,  of  any  age  or  sex, 
is  hallowed  in  my  memory  ! 

'^  Do  you  not  feel  for  me  ?  If  oceans  of  tears 
could  animate  this  withered  heart,  it  would 
have  escaped  the  frightful  solitude  to  which  it 
is  condemned.  'Tis  vain  and  weak  to  struggle 
with  our  destiny  !  Mine  did  not  always  appear 
to  me  what  it  now  does,  for  in  early  youth 
there  are  illusions  for  the  most  unfortunate. 
Do  not  mistake  me — I  am  chilled,  not  dead. 
There  is  a  touch  of  human  feeling  in  me  still ! 
I  am  interested  for  many  shadows  that  have 
flitted  past  me  in  my  dream  of  life ;  and  there 
are  some  I  dwell  on  with  anxiety,  who  would 
think  it  a  degradation  to  waste  one  thought 
on  me ! 

"  I  have  sat  up  through  the  night,  to  finish  the 
manuscript  I  send  you.  You  will  find  now  the 
clue  to  my  feelings  and  my  conduct,  and  seeing 
what  the  former  must  6e,  in  consequence  of  the 
latter,  you  will  not  again  expect  the  blighted 
ear  of  corn  to  yield  you  a  bounteous  harvest, 
The  breaking  of  day  warns  me  to  conclude;  my 
eyes  are  heavy  with  watching  and  tears,  while 
yours  are  refreshed  by  quiet  and  repose,  and 


DE    LISLE.  129 

yet    the  object  of  commiseration   with  you,  is 
yourself^  and  not  Therese  /" 

Hubert  de  Lisle  was  not  a  person  to  read 
unmoved  such  a  picture  of  hopeless  wretched- 
ness, proceeding  even  from  a  stranger;  but 
written  by  one  he  had  once  dearly  loved,  and 
so  lately  parted  from  with  emotion,  it  affected 
him  almost  to  tears.  He  had  often  felt  much 
curiosity  about  Madame  de  Lausanne  ;  but  cu- 
riosity is  a  cold  and  narrow  sentiment,  which 
is  forgotten  where  the  heart  is  truly  touched. 
He  felt  that  he  could  not  just  then  read  the 
manuscript,  and  it  was  actually  some  days  after- 
wards tliat  he  ventured  to  begin  the  narrative 
detailed  in  the  following  chapter. 


g5 


130  DE    LISLE. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

*'  My  father  was   a   peasant  in  Swabia :   he 
died  in  consequence  of  an  accident,  while  hewing 
wood  in  the  forest.     He  left  a  large  family  to 
struggle  with  poverty — I  had  almost  said  with 
famine.     I  have   a   confused   notion  of  my  fa- 
ther's   death  and  my  mother's  tears,  but  it  is 
scarcely  a  recollection.      Time  passed  on,  and 
we  contrived  to  exist.     A  man  of  some  property, 
for  his  situation,  said  he  would  marry  my  mo- 
ther if  her   family  were   not    so  large.       This 
increased  her  grief  at  our  number,  which  was 
assuredly  our  misfortune,  rather  than  our  fault. 
"It  was  at  this  period  that  the  Prince  of 
Z ,  travelling  with  his  only  son  for  the  reco- 
very of  his  health,  passed  through  our  hamlet. 
An  equipage  of  that  sort  was  so  rare,  that  it  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  every  one.     Taken  up 


DE   LISLE.  131 

with  gazing  at  it,  I  forgot  to  get  out  of  the  way ; 
and  one  of  the  horses,  alarmed  at  my  vicinity, 
plunged  and  kicked  me.  I  uttered  a  cry  which 
induced  the  travellers  to  look  out.  They  even 
stopped,  which  is  more  than  I  have  seen  some 
travellers  do  on  similar  occasions,  and  a  servant 
raised  me  from  the  ground,  and  reported  that 
my  arm  and  head  were  bleeding,  but  that  he 
dared  say  I  should  soon  be  cured. 

"  The  young  prince  was  not  so  easily  satisfied  ; 
he  examined  the  cuts  himself  with  g-reat  kind- 
ness ;  and  soothed  by  a  softness  so  unusual,  I 
embraced  him,  and  told  him  if  he  would  stay 
with  me  I  would  not  cry  any  more.  I  was  then 
about  eight  years  old,  and  though  I  never  grew 
into  a  really  handsome  woman,  I  was  a  pretty 
child,  with  curling  hair  and  a  brilliant  skin. 
Had  I  been  sallow,  like  my  sisters,  I  make  no 
doubt  I  should  never  have  excited  the  benevo- 
lence of  the  great. 

"  As  it  was,  I  pleased  their  highnesses ;  and 
the  young  one  asked  me  playfully,  if  I  would 
go  with  him,  since  he  could  not  stay  with  me. 
I  joyfully  acceded,  but  said  I  must  bid  my 
mother  adieu.  It  struck  the  elder  gentleman  as 
singular  that  I  should  so  willingly  leave  her, 


132  DE    LISLE. 

and  yet  not  forget  to  take  leave  of  her ;  and 
getting  out  of  their  carriage,  they  followed  me 
to  my  humble  dwelHng. 

"When  the  plan  was  proposed  to  my  poor 
mother,  she  burst  into  tears  and  looked  irresolute. 
Things  not  easily  attained  are  doubly  precious 
to  the  slave  of  luxury,  because  they  afford  the 
stimulus  he  is  ever  in  want  of.  They  urged 
their  wish  with  greater  vehemence,  offering 
money,  which  was  indeed  a  cogent  argument. 
My  mother  looked  at  the  remaining  children, 
and  asked  for  more.  The  prince  told  her  she 
was  unjust  and  sordid ;  but  as  the  money  was  to 
him  a  far  less  object  than  gratifying  the  whim 
of  the  moment,  he  threw  it  on  the  table,  and 
his  son  taking  me  in  his  arms,  we  retraced  our 
way  to  the  carriage. 

"  For  a  little  while,  I  was  a  great  plaything 
and  favourite  :  it  was  such  an  amusement  to 
dress  me  in  the  most  fanciful  attire,  to  hear 
my  storif^^.  of  my  family,  to  teach  me  to  sing 
songs — i'l  they  discovered  I  had  a  musical  ear. 
In  short  I  beguiled  the  journey  home,  but 
the  novel  y  was  then  over;  I  was  consigned 
to  the  ca  e  of  the  housekeeper,  and  speedily 
forgotten. 

"  The  .  *rince  had  purchased  me  as  he  would 


DE    LISLE.  133 

have  purchased  a  mongrel  puppy,  had  it  struck 
the  fancy  of  his  sick  boy ;  and  I  might  have 
been  drowned,  or  shot,  after  I  had  outlived  my 
favour,  for  any  thing  he  would  have  cared. 

"  The  wayward  child  had,  however,  a  fresh 
access  of  fondness  for  me  a  few  months  after. 
He  had  been  given  a  tutor,  who,  without  being 
very  strict,  tried  to  give  him  some  of  the  infor- 
mation thought  indispensable  at  twelve  years 
old.  This  was  a  great  restraint,  and  he  thought 
he  would  lighten  it,  by  making  me  share  the 
burden.  All  young  despots  love  to  teach,  and 
Frederick  thought  it  was  very  amusing  to 
punish  me,  whenever  he  was  himself  punished. 
Luckily  for  me,  uneasiness  for  his  health  made 
those  punishments  very  slight. 

"  He  never  forgot  to  tyrannise  over  me,  but 
he  very  soon  forgot  to  instruct  me.  However, 
the  habit  of  iivino;  in  the  tutor"*s  room  was  not 
lost.  I  was  a  merry,  obliging  child,  who  would 
run  of  all  his  errands,  and  often  flatter  him,  by 
remembering  the  lessons  he  had  given  to  his 
less  attentive  pupil.  He  rewarded  me  by 
glimpses  of  knowledge,  which  increased  my  de- 
sire to  know  more. 

'*  I  do  not  think  Nature  has  given  me  positive 
genius,  but  she  has  been  bountiful  in  quickness, 


1S4  DE    LISLE. 

memory,  and  the  power  of  application.  My 
studies  were  heterogeneous,  and  rarely  feminine, 
but  they  were  pursued  with  avidity,  and  some 
success. 

"  Five  years  after  1  had  been  the  bond-maid 

of  the  Z family,  (for  I  was  in  truth  nothing 

better,)  the  tutor  was  dismissed  for  very  dis- 
honourable conduct.  I  had  not  loved  him,  for 
his  heartless  selfishness  chilled  me,  and  I  well 
knew  I  had  derived  no  benefit  from  him,  that 
I  had  not  dearly  purchased  by  my  devotion  to 
his  caprices,  and  my  attention  to  his  comfort, 
when  the  frequent  fits  of  the  gout,  to  which  he 
was  subject,  made  him  dependent  on  every  one. 

'*  Still  he  was  a  great  loss  to  me.  I  had  no 
longer  any  room  but  my  little  dark  garret ;  for 
the  housekeeper  hated  me  for  being,  as  she  said, 
so  much  more  learned  than  was  good,  and  I 
could  only  get  books,  or  pen  and  ink  occasion- 
ally, when  Frederick's  memory  served  him  in 
my  behalf. 

*'  But  he  was  soon  taken  to  Court,  and  I  be- 
gan to  despair.  I  even  formed  a  plan  of  going 
home  to  my  mother,  and  working  for  my  bread, 
little  as  I  knew  of  any  thing  that  could  be 
useful  in  my  line.  The  old  Prince  returned  be- 
fore my  floating  ideas  had  resolved  themselves 


DE    LISLE.  135 

into  a  plan.     He  left  his  son  behind  him,  bat 
he  brought  for  his  companion  an  opera-singer. 

*'  She  was  rather  handsome,  and  sang  di- 
vinely. She  almost  immediately  took  a  fancy 
to  me,  and  had  me  instructed  in  music.  It  is 
not  an  art  to  be  acquired  in  a  few  months,  and 
though  my  progress  was  not  discouraging,  it 
did  not  keep  pace  with  the  impatience  of  my 
new  protectress.  I  was  so  much  tormented  on 
the  subject,  that  even  my  old  enemy,  the  house* 
keeper,  took  compassion  on  me,  and  procured 
me  some  relief. 

"  I  pleased  my  haughty  mistress  better  in 
singing,  and  received  some  applause  from  the 
Prince;  but  as  this  excited  much  jealousy,  it 
procured  for  me  more  pain  than  pleasure.  On 
the  following  year  the  lady  left  us,  for  Frede- 
rick was  expected  home,  and  the  Prince  had  no 
desire  to  offer  so  bad  an  example  as  her  pre- 
sence would  have  been  to  a  youth  of  nineteen. 

"As  he  had  seen  a  great  deal  more  of  me 
while  she  was  his  inmate,  he  naturally  thought 
Q^  me  more,  and  even  in  several  instances  pro- 
vided for  my  comfort.  My  heart  overflowed 
with  gratitude  and  delight,  and  I  did  my  best 
to  love  my  benefactor.  How  little  did  he  de- 
serve such  feelings  !  yet  I  think  of  that  period 


136  DE    LISLE. 

with  pleasure,  for  their  existence  was  a  blessing 
to  myself. 

"  The  heir  returned — but  what  a  return ! 
His  feeble  health  had  sunk  beneath  the  dissipa- 
tion in  which  so  many  sought  to  plunge  him, 
and  he  came  home  but  to  die.  His  illness, 
however,  was  lingering,  and  I  found  I  must 
still  be  his  slave.  He  delighted  in  my  singing, 
refused  to  be  nursed  by  any  one  but  me ;  and 
had  he  been  less  a  prey  to  the  peevishness  and 
selfishness  of  disease,  I  might  have  been  really 
gratified  by  such  evident  partiality. 

"  He  died  at  last,  and  for  some  time  after, 
nothing  could  be  more  gloomy  than  the  Castle 

o£  Z .     The  old  Prince  was  truly  wretched. 

All  the  affection  of  which  he  had  been  capable 
had  centred  in  his  only  son ;  and  all  his  pride 
in  his  heir.  Bereaved  and  aghast,  he  knew  not 
where  to  fly  for  comfort.  He  turned  to  the 
priests,  who  had  attended  the  last  moments  of 
Frederick,  and,  for  a  time,  seemed  the  prey  of 
bigotry  as  well  as  grief. 

"  As  the  season  advanced,  he  quitted  the 
dark  purlieus  of  his  own  apartment  to  breathe 
the  air,  at  the  instigation  of  his  steward,  or  in- 
tendant,  as  he  was  called  with  us ;  and  in  one  of 


DE    LISLE.  137 

these  short  and  cheerless  rambles,  he  met  with 
me.  He  was  at  first  much  affected  by  the  sight 
of  an  object  so  forcibly  associated  with  his  son; 
but  he  intreated  me,  nevertheless,  to  remain 
with  him ;  spent  the  evening  in  the  saloon,  and 
even  asked  me  to  sing. 

"  I  was  careful  not  to  choose  any  of  those 
songs  I  had  so  often  repeated  to  Frederick, 
and  the  Prince  seemed  almost  restored  to  his 
former  self.  From  that  day,  the  religious  per- 
sons who  had  flocked  round  him  were  more 
coldly  received,  and  soon  after  entirely  dis- 
missed. 

"  My  own  situation  had  undergone  great 
changes.  As  nothing  was  right  in  the  sick- 
room but  what  I  did,  the  servants  had  acquired 
a  habit  of  submission  to  my  orders  in  that  de- 
partment, that  was  felt,  though  in  a  less  degree, 
all  over  the  house. 

"  The  old  housekeeper  too  had  died ;  and 
foreseeing  the  influence  I  was  likely  to  attain, 
solicited  from  me  the  favour  of  placing  a  fa- 
vourite niece  in  her  situation.  The  intendant 
would  not  hear  of  it,  because  of  the  girl's  youth, 
and  he  was  no  doubt  judicious  in  his  objection  ; 
but  she  cajoled  and  flattered  me,  so  I.  of  course, 


138  DE    LISLE. 

supported  her.  The  Prince  said  there  could 
be  no  harm  in  trying  her;  and  thus  I  became,  in 
fact,  the  mistress  of  the  estabhshment. 

^*  This  was  a  bold  and  sudden  step  to  power, 
but  it  harassed,  more  than  it  elated  me  ;  for  it 
was  far  from  being  complete,  and  I  sought  not 
to  disguise  from  myself  that  it  was  most  inse- 
cure. Many  gross  abuses  were  practised  under 
my  eye,  that  I  must  pretend  not  to  see  ;  many 
covert  impertinences  were  offered  to  myself,  that 
I  must  not  dare  to  resent ;  for  in  the  struggle, 
the  chance  of  overcoming  was  as  likely  to  fall 
to  my  competitor  as  to  myself, — indeed,  more  so. 

"  Even  the  creature  I  had  raised  showed  a 
disposition  to  turn  against  me,  as  soon  as  she 
thought  she  could  preserve  her  place  without 
my  interest.  All  these  things  led  to  painful 
and  deep  reflections  on  the  utter  worthlessness 
of  human  nature.  I  was  not  ill-natured  or 
overbearing,  and  I  could  not  understand  having 
to  live  in  perpetual  watchfulness  of  injury. 

"I  believe  I  was  unjust,  for  I  have  since 
thought  the  envy  I  excited  was  scarcely  to  be 
wondered  at.  I  owed  my  elevation  to  no  merit 
of  my  own,  but  solely  to  the  caprice  of  my  su- 
periors ;  and,  in  fact,  in  hating  and  thwarting 
me,    they    did    but   express    their    impatience 


DE    LISLE.  139 

against  that  caprice,  in  the  only  way  in  their 
power. 

"  They  saw  the  bright  side  of  my  situation. 
I  did  not  work ;  I  was  scarcely  controlled ;  I  was 
handsomely  dressed.  They  could  not  guess  how 
much  happier  they  were,  than,  in  my  insecure 
and  isolated  state,  I  could  ever  be  ;  for,  not 
having  tried  my  situation,  they  knew  nothing 
of  my  feelings.  I  had  not  high  spirits  indeed, 
but  that  they  thought  was  only  pride.  I  had 
good  health,  and  if  any  chance  thing  ailed  me, 
none  knew  it,  for  to  whom  should  I  have  com- 
plained. 

"  The  allowances  I  can  make  now,  I  could 
not  make  then.  The  old  Prince  seemed  to  me 
the  only  being  not  disposed  to  injure  me;  and 
in  his  society  alone  I  felt  unrestrained  and 
cheerful.  I  often  thought  of  petitioning  him 
for  a  small  sum  of  money,  with  which  to  return 
to  my  mother.  Without  some  pecuniary  as- 
sistance, I  felt  I  should  only  be  a  burden  to 
her  ;  and  I  knew  that  what  she  would  think  a 
fortune  would  be  nothing  to  him. 

*'I  was  checked  by  the  thought,  that  it 
would  be  ungrateful  to  leave  him  again  to  soli- 
tude and  gloom  ;  but  I  hesitated  not  to  propose 
his  quitting  the  Castle  for  a  time." 


140  DE    LISLE. 

"  He  was  not  a  sensible  person,  but  he  was 
rather  well-informed,  and  piqued  himself  on 
his  literary  taste.  I  represented  to  him  that  in 
tJie  capital,  or  even  in  some  large  provincial 
town,  he  might  form  a  pleasant  society,  of 
which  he  would  be  the  head  and  leader,  as 
I  had  read  of  in  many  memoirs  of  the  day. 
'  And  are  you  impatient  to  see  a  town, 
Therese  ?'  asked  the  Prince,  with  a  smile. 
I  explained  my  plan  for  myself,  but  he 
would  not  hear  of  it.  If  I  returned  to  the 
mother  who  had  sold  me,  I  should  not  only 
be  shocked  at  a  style  of  living  and  manners 
tx)  which  I  had  been  so  unaccustomed,  but 
could  not  even  rely  on  their  kindness,  since  it 
would  take  long  training  to  make  me  in  the 
least  useful  to  them.  In  short,  he  represented 
all  I  should  suffer  so  strongly,  that  I  reluctant- 
ly gave  up  the  idea ;  for  I  could  not  flatter  my- 
self, indeed,  that  any  of  those  persons  would 
see  me  return  with  pleasure,  who  had  never 
once  exerted  themselves  to  inquire  after  me 
since  I  had  left  them. 

"  'No,  Therese,'  said  the  Prince,  in  conclu- 
sion, 'you  are  my  property,  and  mine  only. 
Surely  you  will  take  care  of  me  in  my  old  age, 
who  took  care  of  you  in  your  youth.' 


DE    LISLE.  141 

"  I  did  not  just  then  remember  the  sort  of 
care  that  had  been  bestowed  upon  me,  but, 
touched  by  his  manner,  I  wept  and  embraced 
him.  His  agitation  was  so  uncommon,  that  I 
was  shocked  to  have  produced  it,  and  wondered 
much  that  my  caresses  had  so  little  the  effect 
of  subduing  it. 

*'  Some  time  after,  he  summoned  me  to  his 
morning  room,  in  which  I  never  sat.  The  in- 
tendant  was  there  :  I  thought  he  turned  on  me 
a  look  of  compassion ;  but  as  he  had  opposed 
me  about  the  housekeeper,  and  I  had  succeeded 
in  the  contest,  I  concluded  he  could  not  be 
friendly  to  me.  I  therefore  supposed  his  sad- 
ness arose  from  some  other  cause,  unconnected 
with  me. 

"  '  I  have  been  taking   measures,'  said  the 

Prince,  as  I  entered,  '  for  our  removal  out  of  the 

country ;  I  am  growing  too  old  to  live  without 

society,  and  for  you  it  will  have  all  the  pleasure 

of  novelty."* 

"  I  was  indeed  enchanted,  and  expressed  my 
pleasure  warmly.  The  Prince  was  amused  with 
my  raptures :  he  kissed  me,  and  desired  me  to 
take  the  intendant  into  the  other  room,  as  he  had 
something  to  say  to  me,  that  he  hoped  would  not 
check  my  animation. 


142  DE    LISLE. 


(( 


I  obeyed  in  silence,  and  having  seated  myself, 
wondered  that  my  companion  was  so  long  in  ma- 
king his  communication.     At  last  he  said :    "  It 
is  the  wish  of  my  master,  that  I  should  show  you 
these  papers,  and  explain  to  you,  that  they  entitle 
you  to  a  yearly  sum,  to  be  spent  by  you  on  your- 
self solely  ;    also,    that  he  will  not  limit  your 
expenses  in  housekeeping,  or  your  controul  over 
his  family,  so  long  as  you  are  content  to  fill  the 
station  of  Madame  N/     The  intendant  stopped : 
and  I  gazed  on  his  embarrassed  and  downcast 
looks,  without  knowing  what  to  make  of  his 
words  or  i^anner. — '  Surely,'  I  said,   '  you  are 
bewildered  ! — I  have  hitherto  been  occasionally 
the  companion  of  my  benefactor,  but  Madame 
N.  was  his  mistress.' — '  You  have  hitherto  been 
a  child ;  but  now,   though   only   fifteen,  your 
height  and  finished  form   may  well  class   you 
with    woman.' — '  But   all  women  are  not   like 
Madame    N.'  —  *You   can  hardly  expect    the 
Prince  to  marry  you;    and  if  he    did,  a  left 
handed  marriage  would  involve  you  in  squab- 
bles with  his  relations,  without  doing  you  much 
good. ' — '  But  if  I  don't  want  to  marry  him.''   If 
I  would  rather  not  be  his  mistress  ?"*  I  asked 
impatiently. — '  Then    I   have   no  authority  to 
give  you  these  papers.' 

"  A  cold  shuddering  came   over  me.    I  felt 


DE    LISLE.  14j3 

that  the  prince  had  not  gone  so  far  to  retreat; 
that  at  his  age,  particularly,  he  could  never 
pardon  a  refusal  of  such  a  nature.  Thus  I  must 
decide  at  once  not  merely  to  lose  a  friend,  but 

t 

to  convert  him  into  an  enemy ;  or  else  I  must, 
according  to  my  usual  practice,  purchase  all 
my  comforts  by  perpetual  sacrifices.  Hitherto, 
though  they  had  often  been  irksome,  they  were 
neither  as  constant  nor  as  revolting  to  my  feel- 
ings, as  those  now  meditated. 

"  The  disgrace  touched  me  but  httle — I  felt  not 
its  extent — I  saw  not  its  consequences.  I  had 
a  confused  notion,  it  is  true,  that  such  conduct 
would  not  entitle  me  to  countenance  and  support 
from  quiet  matrons  :  but  we  cannot  be  said  to 
lose  what  we  never  possessed.  It  was  no  such 
reflection  that  caused  the  deadly  sickness  under 
which  I  sank. 

"  When  my  faintness  subsided,  I  found  my- 
self on  the  sofa,  with  the  intendant  still  before 
me.  He  had  not  only  not  called  the  Prince, 
but  seemed  to  have  taken  no  means  of  recover- 
ing me,  beyond  opening  the  window.  Soothed 
by  his  look  of  unfeigned  commiseration,  I  asked 
him  what  I  should  do. — '  Excuse  me,'  said  the 
old  man  hastily,  '  I  do  not  wish  to  speak  against 
my  master's  wishes,  and  I  cannot  speak  for  them.' 
— '  Does  he  know,"*  I  said,  '  how  warm  an  advo. 


144  DE    LISLE. 

cate  he  lias  found  in  you  T — '  Assuredly  !  why 
should  1  deceive  any  one?  He  could  not  expect 
me  to  recommend  what  I  could  not  approve. 
In  this  case  you,  however,  are  the  sole  judge; 
you  belong,  in  fact,  to  no  one  but  the  Prince, 
except  in  as  far  as  every  one  belongs  to  himself. 
You  are  at  liberty  to  comply  with  his  wish,  or 
to  decline  it.' — '  And  what  shall  I  do,  should  he 
resent  my  refusal  ?"*■ — '  You  best  know  how  far 
you  can  earn  a  subsistence :  I  have  neither  mo- 
ney nor  home  to  offer  you,  nor  could  I  procure 
for  you  any  employment  above  that  of  a  servant. 
What  place  could  you  fill  ?"* — None,'  I  replied 
gloomily;  '  I  am  utterly  useless  and  destitute  !' — 
*  Your  education  has  been  much  vaunted^ — 
what  could  you  teach  ?"* — '  I  fear  nothing !  I 
have  made  some  progress  in  languages,  but 
Latin  alone  do  I  really  know ;  my  knowledge 
of  music  is  trilling,  nor  should  I  know  how 
to  convey  it  to  another.  I  used  to  be  fond  of 
geometry,  but  I  have  neglected  it  of  late  to 
scribble  poetry,  in  which  my  success  is  insig- 
nificant, and  I  am  ignorant  of  its  rules.' — 
'  Poor  child  1'  said  the  intendant,  '  a  little 
pain  work  and  a  little  religion  would  have 
availed  you  better ;  but  you  are,  I  presume, 
deficient  in  both.' 


DE    LISLE.  145 

"  I  confessed  it,  and  then  remained  silent  and 
oppressed.  He  advised  my  asking  for  a  little 
time  for  consideration;  and,  glad  of  a  reprieve,  I 
begged  him  to  make  the  request  for  me.  He 
did  so,  and  I  retired  to  my  own  room,  sick  at 
heart,  and  unable  to  think  of  any  thing,  for  I 
saw  no  way  out  of  my  present  difficulties.  I 
threw  myself  on  my  bed;  and  had  I  known  how 
to  pray,  it  would  have  been  for  death. 

"  But  death  was  far  from  me ;  and  I  awoke  the 
following  day,  with  no  other  complaint  than 
an  aching  head  and  a  bewildered  mind.  The 
Prince  sent  to  me  to  drive  out  with  him,  and  I 
went,  for  I  dared  not  refuse.  He  was  very  kind 
to  me,  and  did  not  allude  to  my  conversation  with 
the  intendant.  I  breathed  again,  and  almost 
hoped  he  had  changed  his  mind. 

"  We  left  Castle  Z ,  and  on  our  road  the 

Prince  told  me  he  had  made  all  due  allowances 
for  my  childishness  ;  but  that  now  he  expected  I 
would  discard  my  scruples,  and  prepare  to  take 
possession  of  the  hotel  he  had  purchased  in  Vi- 
enna, as  the  friend  and  mistress  of  its  owner.  . 

''  I  did  not  faint  this  time,  and  I  even  had 
sufficient  self-controul  to  conceal  my  tears.  If 
the  Prince  could   but  have  ouessed  how  much 

o 

he  lost  in  my  heart  and  my  estimation  by  such 

VOL.  1.  H 


146  DE    LISLE. 

conduct,   it  might    perhaps  have  checked  his 
fancy — for  it  was  not  a  passion  he  felt  for  me. 

"  I  had  hitherto  wished  to  be  with  him ;  de- 
lighted in  seeing  him  pleased,  and  refused  to 
nbtice  his  weaknesses.  Now  I  recoiled  from 
him,  cared  not  how  he  felt,  detected  all  his 
follies  with  a  malignant  eye,  and  despised 
his  fondness.  In  my  protector  the  approaches 
of  age  were  venerable,  and  marked  with 
respectful  regret ;  but  a  superannuated  lover 
is  of  all  objects  the  most  disgustingly  ab- 
surd. 

"  In  short,  I  lost  every  sort  of  amicable 
feeling  as  connected  with  him,  and  did  nothing 
but  with  a  view  to  my  own  interest.  I  had 
within  my  power  many  means  of  gratification. 
I  studied  indefatigably  with  masters  of  various 
sorts.  I  had  music  always  in  my  house,  be- 
sides attending  every  public  concert.  I  built 
a  conservatory  at  an  immense  expense,  and 
would  never  be  without  the  rarest  plants,  in 
season  or  out  of  season.  I  covered  myself  with 
the  most  splendid  jewels,  and  took  as  much 
care  to  ornament  my  person  and  deck  out  my 
apartments,  as  to  cultivate  my  mind. 

"  The   infatuation   of  the   Prince   increased 
hourly.     While  I   had  been  simple,  unobtru- 


at  LISLE.  147 

sive,  and  sincere,  he  had  liked  me  only  be- 
cause there  was  no  one  else  to  like,  because  I 
was  young,  and  sang  to  his  taste ;  but,  now 
that  I  was  magnificent,  imperious,  and  false, 
he  thought  me  the  most  superior  and  fasci- 
nating of  women. 

"  At  first,  the  society  he  assembled  at  his 
house  was  of  a  very  venerable  date,  but  by  de- 
grees younger  persons  gained  admittance.  He 
viewed  them  askance  at  first,  but  was  soon  re- 
conciled by  my  coldness  to  all  those  who  might 
have  had  a  chance  of  pleasing  me. 

"It  is  false  that  we  naturally  sin  against 
principle  whenever  we  are  off  our  guard.  I, 
who  had  been  given  no  principle,  yet  made 
some  of  my  own :  I  did  not  love  the  Prince ; 
I  did  not  esteem  him ;  and  yet,  anxious  as  it 
were  to  hallow  our  connexion  in  my  own  eyes, 
I  determined  never  to  be  induced  to  leave  him. 
I  was  equally  restrained  by  instinct  from  form- 
ing transient  attachments;  and,  being  by  na- 
ture a  passionless  person,  it  was  no  effort.  All 
my  energy  was  turned  towards  study,  and  all 
my  ambition  was  to  be  treated  by  my  guests  as 
if  they  remembered  my  talents  and  acquire* 
ments,  and  forgot  my  situation. 

"  I  soon  found    that  having  lost  one  species 

H    2 


14S  DE    LISLE. 

of  character,  I  must  now  be  content  with  a  lite- 
rary one,  which  was  at  least  better  than  none 
at  all.  The  Prince's  assemblies  soon  became 
famous:  foreigners  were  eager  to  gain  admit- 
tance. We  had  some  women,  but  they  were 
not  very  young,  and  mostly  such  as  were  barely 
received  elsewhere. 

"  Some  made  their  pursuit  of  science  the 
excuse  for  visiting  at  a  house  where  all  the 
first  in  the  class  of  wit  or  literature  were  to  be 
found.  Some  only  came  once,  when  it  was  un- 
derstood that  I  should  act.  Not  that  I  ever 
performed  plays,  but  I  sometimes  declaimed 
particular  pieces,  sometimes  sang  whole  stories, 
and  oftener  repeated  poetry  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment,  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  of  the  im- 
provisatore  of  the  Italians. 

'  ,  *'  This  sort  of  life  lasted  some  years :  we 
occasionally  visited  Z — —  castle  in  the  summer, 
and  occasionally  travelled  for  our  amusement 
during  that  season.  I  was  now  and  then  really 
amused ;  and  by  dint  of  indefatigable  employ- 
ment I  drowned  all  unpleasant  recollections  as 
they  arose.  I  remembered  my  early  poverty, 
and  was  not  slow  in  relieving  the  wants  of 
others  ;  but  I  did  it  carelessly,  and,  I  make  no 
doubt,  often  injudiciously. 

"  The  first  use  I  made  of  my  independent 


DE    LISLE.  149 

purse  was  to  send  some  money  to  my  mother, 
and  inquire  into  the  situation  of  my  family. 
Some  of  my  brothers  and  sisters  had  died,  some 
had  contrived  to  push  their  own  way,  and  my 
mother  had  married  the  very  person  who  had 
lamented  the  number  of  her  children. 

"  I  endeavoured  to  be  useful  to  them,  but 
with  little  success :  some  grew  idle  in  the  hope 
of  remittances ;  some  embarked  in  speculations, 
in  which  they  fancied  I  could  help  them ;  some 
committed  the  grossest  injustice,  and  trusted  to 
the  powerful  protection  of  the  Prince  for  escap- 
ing punishment.  They  had  all  forgotten  me ; 
and  my  recollection  of  them  produced  the  sur- 
prise that  one  might  feel  in  discovering  a  jar  of 
coins,  for  nothing  could  be  so  far  removed  from 
tenderness  or  gratitude. 

"  My  poor  mother  once  got  the  parish  clerk 
to  write  me  a  long  letter,  hoping  that  I  was  pro- 
perly grateful  to  Heaven  for  raising  me  up  such 
a  protector  as  the  noble  Prince,  and  earnestly 
conjuring  me  to  make  myself  worthy  of  his  pa- 
ternal regard  by  a  gentle  temper  and  virtuous 
conduct !  She  proceeded  to  say,  that  she  had 
but  one  child  by  her  second  husband,  a  little 
girl  as  handsome  as  I  was  when  taken  from 
her,  and  for  whom  she  bespoke  my  kindness. 

"  Thus  did  even  my  mother  flatter  me  ;  as  if 


150  DE    LISLE. 

conscious  that  I  had  been  raised  too  much  above 
her  to  address  me  in  any  other  way.  Still  there 
was  some  affection  in  her  letter,  and  I  cherished 
the  hope  of  one  day  seeing  the  only  being  in 
whose  regard  I  felt  any  confidence.  I  did  see 
her,  but,  alas  !  it  was  to  overwhelm  her  with 
grief. 

''  My  half-sister  was  infinitely  handsomer 
than  I,  and  was  courted  by  all  the  gay  rustics 
in  the  neighbourhood.  Possibly  she  may  have 
given  herself  airs  of  finery  which  disgusted  her 
female  companions.  At  any  rate,  they  envied 
her  not  only  her  beauty  and  her  lovers,  but  the 
smart  dresses  I  had  so  foolishly  sent  her. 

"  Malice  does  not  stop  at  trouble  :  they 
found  out  how  little  cause  my  family  had  to 
be  Droud  of  me ;  and  though  there  was  feeling 
enough  among  them  to  agree  to  spare  a  mother, 
they  determined  to  mortify  the  beauty  by  this 
pleasing  intelligence.  At  first,  she  would  not 
believe  them  ;  but  when  they  left  her  no  pre- 
tence for  incredulity,  she  returned  home  in 
despair.  She  would  not  speak  to  my  mother, 
but  sent  me  a  message  to  implore  me  to  come 
and  speak  to  her. 

''Z Castle   was   a  long  day's  journey 

across  the  country  from  my  native  place.  It 
was   some   time  before  I  received   my  sister's 


DE    LISLE.  151 

message ;  and  as  I  could  not  leave  the  Prince, 
who  was  confined  to  his  room  from  indisposi- 
tion, I  could  only  send  a  carriage  and  at- 
tendants for  my  sister,  who  came  to  me  accord- 
ingly. I  was  shocked  and  mortified  at  her 
grief;  and,  willing  to  justify  myself,  I  pleaded 
the  bondage  into  which  I  had  been  sold, 
and  how  entirely  my  education  had  unfitted 
me  for  returning  home,  even  could  I  have 
been  received.  My  mother  would  have  grieved 
at  my  coming  back ;  and  my  stepfather,  find- 
ing me  useless,  would  no  doubt  have  turned 
me  out  of  the  house. 

"  I  then  told  her  I  felt  accountable  to  no  one 
for  my  actions ;  that  I  had  sought  to  benefit  a 
family  that  never  had  benefitted  me  ;  that  many 
things  in  my  situation  were  abundantly  painful; 
but  as  they  felt  not  the  pain,  and  might  profit 
by  the  advantage,  I  thought  they  had  little  to 
complain  of. 

*'  My  sister  sighed,  and  was  silent.  I  saw 
that  I  bewildered  her  understanding,  without 
silencing  her  regrets.  As  soon  as  the  Prince 
could  quit  his  room,  she  asked  to  leave  me :  I 
consented  readily ;  for  I  feared  her  honest  aver- 
sion to  him  might  break  forth,  and  give  offence. 

"  She  shed  tears  at  parting,  and  requested 
me  to  visit  my  mother  no  more.     She  thought 


152  DE    LISLE. 

the  oftener  I  came,  the  greater  chance  there 
would  be  of  her  making  the  discovery  of  my 
situation  at  Z Castle,  and  this,  she  assur- 
ed me,  she  would  never  recover.  I  promised, 
though  reluctantly  ;  for  I  did  not  like  to  pain  my 
mother  by  the  appearance  of  neglect.  I  much 
fear,  the  time  my  sister  spent  with  me  did  her 
no  good.  The  distance  between  her  own  station 
and  mine  was  so  enormous,  that  she  could  not 
but  sigh  at  returning  to  a  laborious  existence. 
She  hoped  to  marry  above  her  rank,  and  this 
idea  was  her  ruin. 

"  She  had  an  admirer  among  the  farmers 
who  had  always  been  discouraged  by  her  pa- 
rents, from  the  idea  that  he  might  turn  her 
head,  but  would  never  marry  her.  She  thought 
otherwise ;  and  did  not  therefore  comply  with 
their  wishes  so  far  as  to  avoid  him.  This 
rustic  lover  had  many  advantages  above  her 
others,  for  he  had  been  the  playmate  of  Count 
D ~'s  children,  and  grew  up  under  the  pa- 
tronage of  that  noble  family. 

"  He  was  as  ambitious  in  his  way  as  my 
sister  in  hcr's,  and  had  no  idea  of  blighting  his 
fair  prospects  by  an  imprudent  marriage;  still 
he  could  not  give  up  so  lovely  a  creature ;  who 
seemed   not   wholly  indifferent   to   him.      The 


DE     LISLE.  153 

lovers  met,   and  confided  their  passion  to  the 
woods  and  streams. 

"  My  credulous  sister,  satisfied  with  the  spe- 
cious reasons  assigned  for  delaying  their  mar- 
riage, would  not  see  that  mystery  is  always 
wrong ;  and  indulged,  no  doubt,  in  many 
dreams  of  future  comfort  and  distinction.  She 
certainly  suffered  her  predilection  for  her  un- 
worthy lover  to  engross  her  so  entirely,  that 
she  paid  with  her  life  the  forfeit  of  her  impru- 
dence. Whether  she  destroyed  herself,  or  irri- 
tated her  companion,  by  the  bitterness  of  her 
reproaches,  so  as  to  induce  him  to  commit  the 
desperate  act,  could  never  be  discovered. 

"  She  was  seen  on  the  banks  of  the  river, 
in  his  company ;  he  was  soon  afterwards  met 
alone,  pale  and  haggard.  The  wildness  of  his 
manner,  and  his  instantly  leaving  the  country, 
was  strong  evidence  against  him  ;  nevertheless, 
she  might  have  cast  herself  in,  and  he  might 
only  have  been  guilty  of  not  seeking  assistance 
to  serve  her,  which,  after  all,  from  the  situa- 
tion of  the  place,  would  have  been  ineffectual. 

"  Some  fishermen  found  the  body,  but  not 
till  the  following  day,  when,  of  course,  no 
chance  remained  of  restoring  her.  The  news 
of  this  dreadful  death  overcame  ray  poor  mo- 

H  5 


154!  DE    LISLE. 

ther ;  and,  at  that  very  moment,  some  unguard- 
ed speeches  from  the  assembled  neighbours 
revealed  to  her  the  situation  of  her  fortunate 
daughter,  as  she  was  wont  to  term  me. 

"  In  some  minds,  grief  softens  asperity ;  in 
others,  it  creates  it.  In  the  bitterest  manner 
my  mother  cursed  me  as  the  disgrace  of  her 
old  age,  and  the  destroyer  of  my  young  sister. 
She  forgot  that  she  had  betrayed  me  to  shame 
and  sorrow,  by  casting  me  among  strangers, 
and  selling  her  right  over  me. 

''  She  persisted  in  believing  that  every  one 
must  feel  like  her,  however  different  their  edu- 
cation and  situation  might  be;  and  she  sent 
my  eldest  brother  to  pour  out  on  my  devoted 
head  the  full  tide  of  her  wrath,  her  misery, 
and  her  malediction.  He  brought  back,  too, 
all  the  money  that  I  had  given,  and  which  had 
not  been  spent ;  and,  casting  it  at  my  feet,  told 
me  it  bore  a  curse  with  it,  and  blasted  the  in- 
dustry of  an  honest  man. 

"  I  listened  to  the  language  of  virtuous  in- 
dignation with  surprise  and  emotion  unmixed 
with  anger.  I  pardoned  the  violence,  gross- 
ness,  and  unreasonableness  of  all  my  brother 
said  in  favour  of  its  pure  and  upright  mo- 
tive ;  but  I  could  not  love  the  being  who  over- 
whelmed me  with  the  torrent  of  his  displeasure, 


DE    LISLE.  155 

because  I  had  not  been  taught  to  think  as 
he  did.  I  saw  him  depart,  after  having  vainly 
sought  to  mollify  him,  without  any  wish  to 
receive  another  such  fraternal  lecture. 

"  My  life  continued  the  same  till  the  death 
of  the  Prince.  While  he  lived,  no  bounds  had 
been  set  to  my  extravagance  :  he  was  gone,  and 
I  remained  nearly  penniless. 

"  This,  then,  was  his  passionate  love !  I 
might  starve  when  he  could  no  longer  remain 
near  me  !  There  was  something  in  this  utter 
heartlessness  that  appalled  as  well  as  chilled 
me.  I  shed  no  tears,  I  uttered  no  exclama- 
tions ;  but  I  felt  palsied,  mortified,  and  asto- 
nished. Every  kindly  feeling  withered  within 
me,  and  I  became  selfish  and  cold,  wondering 
at  the  smallest  courtesy  from  my  fellow-creatures, 
when  no  motive  of  interest  was  apparent. 

"  The  heirs  of  the  Prince  of  Z permit- 
ted me  to  claim  whatever  articles  of  furniture 
had  been  appropriated  to  my  use.  They  even 
purchased  my  jewels  themselves,  and  presented 
me  also  with  the  money  arising  from  the  sale 
of  my  flowers  and  rare  exotics.  I  thought  all 
this  very  handsome ;  but  I  afterwards  found  I 
had  given  away  the  jewels,  of  the  value  of  which 
I  was  not  aware. 

I  lived  for  some  time,  quietly  and  alone, 


6i 


156  DE    LISLE. 

upon  the  small  means  that  were  now  mine  ;  but 
as,  in  order  to  increase  them,  I  had  sold  my 
books  and  musical  instruments,  I  found  time 
hung  heavily  on  my  hands.  I  gladly,  therefore, 
agreed  to  the  proposal  of  a  young  widow,  who 
was  among  my  few  visitors,  to  come  and  reside 
with  her,  '  As  our  joint  purses,'  she  said, '  would 
add  to  our  mutual  comfort."'  I  was  very  ready 
to  beUeve  her,  knowing  that  my  notions  of  eco- 
nomy were  confused  and  indefinite. 

"  I  was  comfortable  for  a  short  time  with  my 
new  friend,  who  was  agreeable  and  kind  to  me. 
I  missed  her  one  day — she  had  departed ;  and 
my  writing-desk,  which  contained  all  my  riches, 
was  the  companion  of  her  journey  !  I  had  liked 
her,  and  was  more  unhappy  at  her  conduct  than 
alarmed  at  its  results.  A  fit  of  illness,  tedious 
and  enfeebling,  though  not  very  severe,  soon  ex- 
hausted my  credit ;  money  I  had  none ;  my 
clothes  I  sold  by  degrees,  and  my  chance  of 
starving  seemed  not  far  remote,  when  I  was 
sought  out  by  a  person  who  had  been  intimate 

with  the  Prince  of  Z . 

"  He  was  a  foreigner,  and  when  I  first  knew 
him  had  been  only  travelling  for  his  amusement. 
He  was  now  from  home,  in  a  public  capacity, 
and,  remembering  my  knowledge  of  languages, 
thought  I  might  prove  an  acquisition  in  the 


DE    LISLE.  157 

Northern  Court,  to  which  he  was  somewhat  re- 
luctantly about  to  repair. 

*'  Just  after  I  had  agreed  to  accompany  his 
Excellency,   I  received  a   letter   from    the   in- 

tendant  of  the  late  Prince  of  Z .     He  told 

me,  that  having  often  received  from  me  money 
to  distribute  as  he  might  think  right,  he  had 
taken  the  liberty  of  detaining  a  part ;  as  he  fore- 
saw the  possibility  of  my  being  one  day  in 
greater  want  of  it  than  any  of  the  persons  I 
sought  to  assist. 

"  He  sent  me  with  this  letter  a  pretty  con- 
siderable sum ;  and  also  told  me  he  had,  in 
setting  his  seal  to  the  effects  of  his  late  master, 
removed  to  his  own  house  all  the  books  in  which 
my  name  had  been  written,  and  some  of  the 
china  that  ornamented  my  dressing-room.  He 
looked  upon  these  things  as  my  property,  and 
awaited  my  orders  as  to  their  disposal. 

"  This  letter  arrived  in  time  to  reconcile  me 
in  some  measure  to  human  nature.  My  fellow- 
creatures  were  not  then  all  unfeeling  or  per- 
fidious; and  my  spirits  rose  at  the  thought  that 
I  might  yet  meet  some  one  sufficiently  noble 
to  excite  my  torpid  feelings,  and  sufficiently 
generous  to  make  the  allowance  which  I  thought 
my  due.  I  forgot  that  such  persons  were  as 
unlikely  to  come  in  my  way  as  genii  or  fairies ; 


158  DE    LISLE. 

but  I  was  still  very  young,  and  may  be  par- 
doned the  illusion. 

"  I  moved  now  in  quite  another  sphere;  but 
as  I  still  continued  to  play  a  prominent  part, 
and  was  much  courted  and  complimented,  I 
found  my  situation  far  from  disagreeable.  Some 
time  or  other,  perhaps,  I  may  write  political 
memoirs,  and  describe  the  cabals  in  which  I  was 
engaged,  the  secrets  I  discovered,  and  the  suc- 
cessful ingenuity  with  which  I  puzzled  my 
adversaries,  and  had  the  pleasure  of  rendering 
all  their  measures  abortive. 

''  Not  that  I  cared  for  my  own  .party,  or  felt 
any  malevolence  towards  the  opposite  one.  I 
was  only  glad  to  be  useful  to  my  protector, 
who  was  considerate  enough  about  me ;  and 
was  also  not  sorry  to  have  an  occupation  that 
suited  my  ambitious  temper  and  increased  my 
own  consequence. 

"  It  was  nothing  to  me  that  the  world  re- 
mained in  ignorance  of  my  projects,  or  even  of 
my  existence.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  moving, 
as  behind  a  curtain,  the  springs  that  made  all 
these  great  men  enact  their  parts :  sometimes, 
if  my  own  people  offended  me,  I  had  no  ob- 
jection to  hamper  them ;  and  thoroughly  en- 
joyed the  humble  face  with  which  they  would 


DE    LISLE.  159 

sue  for  my  assistance  to  make  smooth  the  web 
I  had  myself  entangled. 

"  I  was  not  by  nature  malicious,  but  at  the 
bottom  of  my  heart  lay  a  secret,  but  not  a 
slender  hoard  of  resentment,  against  the  whole 
human  race.  Time  might  have  shed  oblivion 
over  it ;  the  society  of  benevolent  creatures  might 
have  checked  its  bitterness ;  but  the  deep  sense 
of  injury  could  not  die,  when  fresh  injuries 
and  fresh  insults  were  accumulated  upon  me. 
I  was  spiteful  only  because  I  was  not  trusted ; 
I  was  imperious  because  I  was  not  respected  ; 
I  knew  so  exactly  how  much  I  was  wanted,  by 
the  degree  of  flattery  poured  upon  me.  For 
such  attention  I  could  not  be  grateful ;  I  only 
enjoyed  the  bitterness  of  my  contempt  for  the 
very  people  who  thought  themselves  justified 
in  despising  me. 

"A  prince  in  the  opposite  faction  saw  me  at 
the  theatre,  and  admired  me.  When  it  was 
known  that  I  sometimes  saw  his  Highness,  and 
suspected  that  I  had  received  diamonds  from  him, 
consternation  seized  on  the  Ambassador  and  his 
set.  I  kept  them  all  in  suspense  to  enjoy  their 
fright.  Some  of  his  Excellency's  friends,  who  had 
treated  me  with  peculiar  insolence,  and  given 
themselves  airs  of  virtue,  truly  laughable  from 


160 


DE    LISLE. 


them,  were   now  ready  to  lick   the  dust  under 
my  feet. 

''  I  had  a  malignant  gratification  in  telling 
them  how  estimable  I  thought  their  proceedings ; 
and  assured  them  at  last,  that  if  I  had  not  the 
honour  of  a  woman,  I  had  that  of  a  man,  and 
should  scorn  to  betray  the  cause  in  which  cir- 
cumstances had  embarked  me.  I  made  myself 
many  enemies  by  this  conciliating  frankness; 
but  what  cared  I  ?  Were  they  not  all  my  ene- 
mies ?  At  any  rate,  one  of  them,  more  vindic- 
tive than  the  rest,  had  credit  enough  to  have 
me  confined ;  and  the  Ambassador,  fearing  to 
be  implicated  in  the  groundless,  but  somewhat 
alarming  charges  brought  against  me,  disclaim- 
ed all  knowledge  of  my  conduct,  and  short- 
ly after  being  recalled,  left  the  country  without 
seeing  me. 

"  I  quite  understood  his  conduct,  though  I  did 
not  think  it  incumbent  on  me  to  admire  it ;  and 
indeed  felt,  I  believe,  less  indignation  than  many 
strangers  who  beheld  the  transaction.  I  was 
liberated  by  the  Prince,  and  remained  in  that 
court  no  longer  than  to  do  a  piece  of  service  to 
my  enemy.  It  was  from  no  good  motive.  I  knew 
he  was  a  proud  man,  who  hated  to  be  obliged 
to  any  one.  I  not  only  conferred  the  favour  on 
him,  but  took  care  that  every  one  should  know 


DE    LISLE.  161 

to  whom  he  owed  it.  I  could  not  have  been 
more  completely  revenged,  had  I  put  him  on  the 
rack.  I  parted  good  friends  with  his  Highness. 
his  transient  liking  had  vanished,  and  I  easily 
reconciled  him  to  my  departure.  I  could  not 
support  the  ennui  and  fatigue  of  courtly  eti- 
quette, without  any  of  the  advantages  of  le- 
gitimate royalty.  His  wife  could  not  have 
been  more  surrounded  by  ceremony  and  re~ 
straint;  and  she  would  at  least  have  had  a 
family  and  a  public  representation  to  occupy 
her  tirae.  I,  on  the  contrary,  had  nothing  to 
do  but  to  sit  surrounded  by  formal  attendants, 
awaiting  the  honour  of  a  visit  from  the  most 
unentertaining  of  princes. 

"  This  was  worse  than  the  prison  from  which 
he  had  freed  me,  and  my  patience  gave  way  at 
last.  I  had  taken  a  great  fancy  to  travel.  I 
went  through  Switzerland  and  Italy  with  an 
Englishman.  He  was  young,  cheerful,  and  not 
very  sensible ;  but  as  he  had  a  good  memory, 
and  talked  fluently,  if  not  well,  he  was  rather 
thought  a  prodigy  at  home,  and  seemed  to  share 
the  mistake  in  the  pleasantest  manner  possible. 

"  He  fancied  he  had  a  talent  for  describing 
scenery,  and  it  is  certain  he  often  made  applica- 
ble quotations.  He  told  me  it  would  be  ex- 
pected by  his  friends,  that  he  should  write  a 


162  DE    LISLE. 

tour;  lamented  his  inability  to  sit  still  long 
enough  either  to  pen  or  to  dictate  a  journal,  and 
the  task  devolved  upon  me. 

"  I  executed  it  to  his  satisfaction,  and  liad 
the  amusement  of  seeing  him  perfectly  convinced 
that  he  had  remembered,  seen,  and  felt  all  I  de- 
scribed !  He  was  quite  reconciled  to  publishing 
this  under  his  own  name,  for  he  had  crammed  it 
with  quotations,  made  many  alterations  where  I 
had  fallen  too  much  into  the  German  idiom,  and 
had  transcribed  the  whole  in  a  fair  hand.  After 
this,  it  would  have  been  hard,  indeed,  to  have 
denied  him  an  author's  merit ! 

"  I  continued  to  lead  a  desultory  life,  but  I 
was  not  now  so  careless  about  money  as  I  had 
'been.  I  have  since,  indeed,  been  sometimes 
robbed  or  cheated,  but  I  have  never  been  in 
absolute  want.  Had  I  alone  been  concerned, 
my  thoughtlessness  might  again  have  plunged 
me  into  the  lowest  state  of  poverty ;  but  I  had 
another  to  think  for,  and  to  save,  if  possible, 
from  the  degradation  that  had  overtaken  me. 

"  In  driving  through  a  village  in  Franconia, 

some  years  after  the  death  of  the  Prince  Z , 

my  carriage  broke.  While  it  was  repairing,  I 
Avished  to  enter  the  first  cabin,  but  was  pre- 
vented by  its  owner,  who  assured  me  it  was  not 


DE    LISLE.  163 

fit  for  so  fine  a  lady  to  sit  down  in ;  but  that  if  I 
would  accompany  him  a  few  yards  off,  to  the 
house  of  the  charitable  widow,  I  should  be  bet- 
ter accommodated.  I  acquiesced  in  his  plan ; 
and  as  we  went  thither,  inquired  what  had 
given  rise  to  the  honourable  appellation  he  had 
given  to  the  person  I  was  going  to. 

"  '  Not  any  one  thing  in  particular,  lady,' 
replied  the  countryman ;  '  when  I  was  a  lad,  I 
knew  the  good  dame  by  no  other  name,  and 
well  she  has  deserved  it.  She  was  once  a  greater 
person — she  never  could  be  a  better.  There  is 
her  house.' 

"  I  looked  up  and  saw  a  cottage,  scarcely 
larger  than  its  neighbours,  but  looking  cleaner, 
and  presenting  at  that  moment  a  most  smiling 
aspect,  the  garden  before  it  being  crammed  with 
gay  flowers.  A  pretty  little  fair  girl  was  work- 
ing earnestly  in  this  small  patch,  and  at  the 
door  sat  spinning  an  aged  woman.  I  asked  if 
the  child  were  her  grandaughter. 

" '  She  is  no  kin  to  her,'  said  my  companion, 
'  but  it  is  all  one.' 

"  I  did  not  quite  understand  this,  and  asked 
if  she  were  paid  for  taking  care  of  her.  The 
tustic  had  placed  his  hand  on  the  little  wicket- 
gate  to  open  it  for  me ;  but  at  my  question  he 


164  DE    LISLE. 

let  it  go,  and,  turning  round,  eyed  me  for  a  mo- 
ment with  an  expression  of  surprise  and  distrust, 
then  with  visible  coldness  answered : 

"  '  That  she  is  paid,  lady,  I  presume  not  to 
doubt — but  it  is  not  in  earthly  coin.' 

**  With  nearly  one  stride  he  crossed  their 
garden,  and  announced  me  to  the  venerable 
matron  as  one  craving  her  hospitality  for  some 
hours,  in  consequence  of  the  accident  I  had  met 
with.  The  dame  listened  to  this  account  in 
silence ;  then,  rising  from  her  chair,  made  me  a 
solemn  curtsey,  and  offering  me,  in  few  words, 
the  choice  of  her  neat  parlour  to  sit  in,  or  a 
chair  in  the  garden,  seemed  not  to  think  it 
incumbent  upon  her  to  do  the  honours  any 
farther. 

*'  The  child,  however,  had  disappeared,  and 
soon  returned  with  a  basket  of  common  fruit, 
some  cream,  and  coarse  bread.  I  tried  to  at- 
tract the  attention  of  my  fairy  attendant ;  but 
she  was  shy,  and  eager  to  return  to  her  flowers. 
I  would  have  made  the  old  woman  speak,  had 
not  that  from  the  beginning  seemed  next  to 
impossible. 

"  There  was  some  knitting  lying  in  a  basket 
by  the  door.  Hopeless  of  conversation,  I  took 
it  up,  and  plied  my  needles  with  a  degree  of 
perseverance  that  seemed  to  surprise  my  taciturn 


DE    LISLE.  165 

companion.  She  did  not,  however,  make  any 
remark ;  but  at  this  moment  a  young  man 
passing  her  gate,  she  arose  with  alacrity  to  meet 
him,  addressing  him  in  a  way  that  showed  me 
he  was  the  rector  of  the  parish, 

"  A  more  prepossessing  countenance  I  had 
seldom  seen ;  and  his  manner,  mild,  simple,  and 
benevolent,  accorded  with  it  most  perfectly. 
He  had  heard  of  the  accident  to  m}'^  carriage, 
and,  in  case  it  could  not  be  finished  mending  by 
evening,  advised  my  sleeping  at  his  house,  in 
preference  to  putting  my  present  hostess  to  any 
trouble,  which  in  her  limited  family  would  be 
more  felt  than  in  his. 

'*  I  was  much  disposed  to  comply  ;  but,  un- 
willing to  trespass  on  such  incautious  kindness, 
I  asked  if  he  lived  alone,  or  had  any  females  in 
the  parsonage.  The  young  man  smiled,  as  if 
he  thought  my  question  had  been  dictated  by 
prudery ;  and  replied,  that  though  his  wife  and 
sister  were  both,  unfortunately,  absent,  he  hoped 
I  should  consider  his  children  as  protection 
enough . 

"  I  told  him,  that  if  he  was  not  more  afraid 
of  me  than  I  felt  disposed  to  be  of  him,  we 
should  do  very  well;  but  that  I  should  certainly 
not  have  forced  myself  on  the  acquaintance  of 
persons,  whose  purity  should  not  be  suspected. 


166  DE    LISLE. 

I  added,  'As  it  is,  I  am  not  under  the  necessity 
of  announcing  myself ;  and  therefore,  if  you 
please,  will  preserve  an  incognita  so  favourable 
to  me.' 

"  The  young  man  bowed  with  a  disturbed 
air.  I  turned  from  him,  and  met  the  eye  of 
the  widow  fixed  upon  me  with  an  expression  of 
increased  kindness  which  surprised  me. 

'' '  Sit  down,  my  dear  child,'  said  she ;  M 
knew  Therese  had  an  honest  heart.  Alas  !  that 
you  who  scorn  to  impose  on  others,  should  yet 
continue  so  to  impose  on  yourself.' 

''  '  Should  you  not  rather  say,  good  mother,' 
I  replied — '  is  it  not  hard  that  others  should 
impose  upon  her  ?' 

"  '  Not  so,'  said  the  widow  mildly  ;  '  your  un>. 
derstanding  is  not  feeble ;  you  have  not  been 
deceived,  though  you  may  have  been  punished 
beyond  your  fault.  But  I  pretend  not  to  teach 
you ;  only  in  this,  take  my  advice,  remain  with 
me.  The  parsonage  is  more  commodious,  I 
confess ;  but  you  would  not  like  to  reward  our 
excellent  pastor's  hospitality,  by  exciting  pos- 
sibly some  prejudice  against  him  in  the  minds 
of  his  parishioners,  and,  it  may  be,  some  jea- 
lousy in  the  mind  of  his  wife.' 

" '  She  is  not  so  unreasonable  !'  said  the  young 
man  with  warmth. 


DE    LISLE.  167 


« 


'  She  is  a  very  good  lady,'  said  the  widow, 
with  a  smile ;  '  but  why  put  her  to  a  needless 
trial  ?' 

"  The  rector,  to  change  the  subject,  called  to 
the  child.  The  name  startled  me, — it  was  that 
of  my  father. 

"  In  answer  to  my  exclamation,  the  widow 
told  me  that  Agnes  was  the  only  child  of  my 
brother.  She  was  an  orphan,  and  had  no  one 
to  look  after  her.  I  now  first  heard  of  the' 
death  of  my  mother,  and  farther  disastrous  par- 
ticulars of  the  rest  of  my  family.  The  father 
of  Agnes  had  entered  into  some  trade  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  widow,  but  it  failed ;  and 
the  disappointment  preyed  on  his  spirits,  and 
hastened  his  end. 

"  The  simplicity  with  which  the  adoption 
of  Agnes  was  mentioned  by  one  who  had  to 
labour  for  her  support,  struck  me  very  forcibly. 
I  felt  almost  ashamed  of  asking  to  remunerate 
this  unostentatious  being  ;  and  yet,  as  Agnes  was 
my  niece,  I  had  certainly  a  right  to  do  some- 
thing for  her. 

"  The  widow  thanked  me  for  my  offers  of 
service,  and  confessed  that  it  often  weighed  upon 
her  mind  the  thought  of  what  might  become 
of  the  child  when  she  was  dead ;  while  she 
lived,  it  was  all  well ;  and  the  more  frugal  and 


168  DK    LISLE. 

f 

industrious  habits  were  impressed  upon  her,  the 
better  she  would  be  prepared  to  struggle  with 
a  hard  destiny. 

*'  I  admired  the  ease  with  which  she  thus 
oyerlooked  herself,  and  the  comforts  and  repose 
that  her  advanced  age  required,  to  think  only 
of  a  little  creature  who  was  nothing  to  her,  and 
had  no  claim  even  on  her  charity. 

"  But  it  was  in  vain  to  urge  selfish  reasons 
to  one  unaccustomed  to  attend  to  them.  She 
would  accept  nothing,  and  only  intreated  that 
I  would  never  dispose  of  my  niece  after  her 
death  but  according  to  the  advice  of  the  rec- 
tor ;  and  urged  the  advantage  of  keeping  her 
in  her  father's  line  of  life,  as  affording  fewer 
temptations  to  error. 

"  I  went  directly  from  the  house  of  the  cha- 
ritable widow  to  that  of  the  intendant  of  the 

Z family,  and  placing  in  his  hands  a  large 

sum  of  money,  begged  him  to  sink  it  in  an  an- 
nuity on  the  child  for  her  life.  I  also  sent  him, 
whenever  I  could,  money  to  place  out  in  some 
way  for  my  benefit,  by  which  precaution  I 
have  escaped  being  reduced  as  low  as  I  was  after 
the  death  of  his  master.  But,  after  all,  economy 
and  order  are  not  consistent  with  our  pursuits. 
I  often  spent  more  in  a  day  than  I  had  been 
able  to  save  for  years. 


DE    LISLE. 


169 


6( 


At  one  time,  having  suddenly  abandoned 
the  house  of  a  young  man,  who  in  a  fit  of 
drunkenness  had  struck  me,  the  idea  of  inde- 
pendence through  my  musical  talents  occurred 
to  me,  and  I  gave  concerts  in  Vienna.  They 
were  well  filled  at  first ;  but  I  belonged  to  no 
party  ;  I  adopted  no  fashionable  style,  for  I  did 
not  even  honour  the  reigning  fashion ;  I  had 
neglected  to  win  over  any  great  connoisseurs ; 
in  short,  I  knew  not  the  trick  of  my  profession  ; 
and  not  being  personally  respected,  I  was  pro- 
tected by  no  one,  and  soon  found  my  debts 
exceed  my  profits. 

"  I  opened  a  painting  academy.  For  a  time, 
curiosity  brought  people  to  me  ;  as  that  attrac- 
tion ceased,  I  offered  to  take  portraits.  So 
many  artists  had  possession  of  the  field  before 
me,  that  I  gained  nothing  by  this  plan  either. 

"  Having  nothing  else  to  attempt,  I  returned 
to  my  old  line  with  increased  disgust  and  ir- 
ritation. I  do  not  suppose  that  I  can  always 
have  met  with  the  most  worthless  beings,  but 
it  is  certain  I  have  always  seen  the  worst  part 
of  every  character.  The  men  with  whom  I  as- 
sociated, not  respecting  me,  thought  it  often 
unnecessary  to  respect  themselves.  Like  school- 
boys who  have  been  galled  by  restraint,  they 

VOL.  I.  I 


170  DE    LISLE. 

seemed  charmed  to  be  at  their  ease.  They 
might  amuse  themselves  before  me  by  uttering 
the  most  worthless  sentiments,  boasting  of  the 
vilest  transactions,  which  good  taste  and  good 
manners  would  have  thrown  a  veil  over  in  bet- 
ter company.  The  good  opinion  of  their  ser- 
vants was  of  more  importance  in  their  eyes  than 
mine,  and  very  naturally — that  /  should  pre- 
sume to  despise  any  conduct  but  my  own,  was 
an  impertinence  of  which  they  did  not  suspect 
me. 

"  About  this  time  the  worthy  Rector  of  the 
little  village  in  Franconia,  announced  to  me  the 
death  of  the  exemplary  person  who  had  taken 
charge  of  my  niece.  Agnes  was  awaiting  at 
his  house  my  decision  respecting  her  future 
home. 

"  I  was  much  puzzled ;  I  could  not  have 
the  child  with  me,  for  such  a  school  was  not 
favourable  to  youth.  I  asked  if  he  thought  I 
could  board  her  in  some  respectable  family, 
half  hoping  that  he  would  offer  to  take  her 
himself.  This,  however,  he  did  not  do ;  and  I 
resolved  on  conveying  her  to  the  Intendant,  who 
had  already  so  often  befriended  me,  and  beg 
of  him  to  place  her  somewhere  in  his  neigh- 


DE    LISLE.  171 

bourhood,  where  she  would  be  kindly  used,  and 
not  be  put  on  too  high  a  footing ;  for  the  rea- 
soning of  her  former  protectress  had  convinced 
me  that  I  should  not  make  her  happy  by  an 
undue  elevation. 

*'  When  I  arrived  at  the  village,  only  the  Rec- 
tor and  Agnes  made  their  appearance ;  but  many 
heads  were  popped  up  and  down  at  each  window, 
to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  lady  that  was  not  to 
be  spoken  to ;  and  a  certain  whispering  on  the 
stairs  convinced  me  the  servants  shared  in  the 
curiosity  of  their  superiors.  I  mentioned  my 
plan  for  Agnes  to  the  Rector,  who  warmly  ap- 
proved of  it,  and  gave  me  much  good  advice  re- 
specting her. 

"  Three  days  afterwards  I  arrived  at  the  door 
of  the  Intendant.  I  sent  in  my  name,  and  was 
not  kept  many  minutes.  Agnes  and  I  were  ush- 
ered into  the  room  he  used  to  sit  in,  but  he  was 
no  longer  there.  A  young  man  and  woman  were 
seated  by  the  fire  in  deep  mourning.  I  guessed 
that  I  came  too  late,  and  offering  a  hasty  apology, 
I  would  have  left  the  room. 

" '  Pray  do  not  go  so  soon,'  said  the  young 
w^oman,  '  but  tell  us  first  in  what  we  can  serve 
you.     Had  my  good  father-in-law  been  spared 

I  2 


17^  DE    LISLE. 

to  US,  he  would  have  denied  you  nothing.  It 
will  be  a  pleasure  to  us  to  do  what,  had  he  lived, 
he  would  himself  have  done. ' 

"  I  have  seen  queens  and  princesses  smile,  and 
bow,  and  look  gracious  in  public ;  I  have  seen 
the  most  celebrated  actresses  in  every  country 
represent  pure  and  dignified  characters  ;  I  have 
never  seen  any  thing  that  touched  me  so  deeply 
as  did  the  wife  of  the  young  Intendant  (for  he 
had  succeeded  to  his  father"'s  situation.)  It  was 
not  her  beauty,  though  that  was  of  the  most  in- 
teresting sort;  nor  her  mourning  robe,  though 
nothing  could  accord  so  well  with  the  style  of  her 
figure.  It  was  a  sort  of  manner  I  had  never 
seen  before  or  since ;  a  tone  of  voice  that  went 
to  the  heart ;  a  look  so  pure,  so  dignified,  so 
serene  and  sad,  that  I  felt  ashamed  of  standing 
in  the  presence  of  such  a  woman. 

'^  Tears  came  to  relieve  the  confusion  and  novel- 
ty of  my  feelings.  The  young  man,  who  had  turn- 
ed to  the  window,  now  came  up  to  me,  and  tak- 
ing my  hand,  led  me  to  a  seat.  He  looked  as  if 
he  thanked  me  for  my  tears,  which  he  concluded 
were  for  his  father ;  and  his  own  cheek,  indeed, 
bore  evident  traces  of  many  having  fallen  to  the 
same  cause. 

"  *  Charles,'  said  the  young  woman,  looking 


DE    LISLE.  173 

anxiously  at  her  husband,  '  do  not  agitate  our 
guest  by  this  renewal  of  sorrow.  It  would  be 
better  to  know  at  once  in  what  we  can  assist 
a  person  for  whom  our  father  felt  so  much 
interest.' 

"  I  saw  that  she  wished  to  keep  off  any  de- 
tails of  the  old  man's  death  that  might  quite 
unnerve  her  husband  ;  and  I  hastened,  after  a 
few  words  of  regret  at  my  unseasonable  intru- 
sion, to  announce  its  purport. 

"  '  Agnes,  then,  is  not  your  child  ?'  abruptly 
asked  the  Intendant,  while  his  wife  coloured, 
and  an  expression  next  to  displeasure  passed 
across  her  open  face. 

"  I  replied,  that  I  had  no  children,  and  was 
very  anxious  to  keep  Agnes  far  from  the  uncer- 
tain homes  that  I  might  possess. 

"  '  Do  you  propose,'  asked  Charles's  wife, 
'  always  keeping  her  at  a  distance — never  visit- 
ii^g  her?' 

"  '  It  is  my  intention  to  see  her  no  more,  if 
possible,  since  I  could  only  do  her  mischief.' 

"  '  In  that  case — '  the  young  woman  stopped, 
looked  at  her  husband,  who  smilingly  replied, 
'  Certainly,  my  dear,  there  can  be  nothing  to 
prevent  our  taking  the  child,  and  educating  it 
for  any  station  her   aunt   may  think   fit, — no 


174  DE    LISLE. 

thanks,  lady,'  he  cried,  impatiently  interrupt- 
ing me.  '  She  is  no  beggar,  I  see  by  my  father's 
papers ;  so  we  are  not  burthening  ourselves  with 
a  portionless  child  that  must  be  turned  adrift 
when  she  grows  up ;  and  she  will  soon  be  old 
enough  to  be  of  use  to  my  wife.' 

"  There  was  some  difficulty  in  settling  the 
yearly  allowance,  as  Charles  thought  me  too 
liberal,  and  his  wife  would  rather  have  had 
nothing.  But  I  reminded  them  that  my  own 
means  were  so  precarious,  that  they  had  better 
accept  what  I  could  give  them  then,  as  they 
would  run  the  risk  of  not  getting  it  some  years 
at  all. 

"No  farther  opposition  was  made,  and,  re- 
fusing to  sleep  at  their  house,  I  went  imme- 
diately after  to  the  next  village.  The  gentle 
Leontine,  however,  had  urged  me  to  breakfast 
with  them  the  following  morning ;  and  believ- 
ing that  in  all  probability  I  should  see  her  no 
more,  I  could  not  deny  myself  the  satisfaction 
of  seeing  my  little  niece  in  possession  of  the 
situation  allotted  her. 

"  I  was  received  by  the  young  couple  with 
a  quiet  attention  and  respectful  kindness,  to 
which  I  had  been  but  little  accustomed  ;  and 
by  the  broader  light   of  morning  was  struck 


DE    LISLE.  175 

afresh  with  the  delicate  loveliness  of  Leontine, 
and  the  singular  grace  of  her  deportment. 

"  She  had  at  the  breakfast-table  two  little 
girls  of  her  own,  and  a  baby  on  her  knee.  I 
do  not  care  for  children,  but  these  little  crea- 
tures were  interesting  from  the  animation  of 
their  countenances,  and  their  docility,  not  to 
their  mother's  orders  merely,  but  to  her  eye. 
Even  the  infant,  when  refused  more  fruit,  only 
made  a  lip,  but  spared  me  the  expected  bawl. 

"  The  influence  of  Leontine  was  every  where 
apparent  to  soothe  or  to  regulate ;  and  yet, 
with  all  this  self-possession,  her  manner  to  her 
iiusband  was  the  most  beautiful  compound  of 
modesty,  tenderness,  and  respect.  There  was  , 
somethino;  in  the  air  of  deference  with  which 
she  addressed  him  so  unlike  any  thing  I  had 
ever  seen,  that  I  wondered  it  did  not  make 
him  unreasonable  and  exacting.  It  did  not, 
however,  seem  to  produce  that  effect ;  and  I 
could  have  gazed  for  ever  on  this  tranquil  scene 
of  home  enjoyment,  if  time  would  have  stood 
still  for  my  gratification. 

"  Leontine  took  me  over  her  house,  showed 
the  little  room  in  which  Agnes  had  spent  the 
night,  which  henceforth  was  to  be  her's;  and 
entered  into  details  respecting  what  she  thought 


176  BE    LISLE. 

should  be  taught  her,  which  from  any  one  else 
I  could  have  spared.  But  proud  to  be  thought 
capable  of  sympathizing  in  any  feeling  with  so 
gentle  and  virtuous  a  person,  I  listened  with 
attention,  and  approved  with  earnestness. 

"  Leontine  now  led  me  into  the  garden,  and 
orchard  beyond  it.  There  was  a  rustic  seat 
at  the  end,  on  which  I  was  glad  to  repose : 
my  companion,  however,  continued  to  stand, 
with  a  look  of  uneasy  meditation,  from  which 
I  wished  to  arouse  her. 

"  Without  noticing  what  I  said,  she  began 
abruptly,  '  Will  you  think  me  unreasonable, 
if  I  ask  yet  another  question  ?  In  what  faith 
has  Agnes  hitherto  been  reared  .-^  and  is  it  your 
wish  that  she  should  continue  to  receive  instruc- 
tion in  the  same  ?' 

"  '  Teach  her  to  be  like  you,  beautiful  Leon- 
tine,'  I  replied,  '  and  I  shall  not  fear  for  her, 
let  her  creed  be  what  it  may.' 

"  The  wife  of  the  Intendant  looked  by  no 
means  propitiated  by  this  [speech  ;  and,  after 
a  grave  silence  of  a  moment,  replied,  '  I  am  a 
Protestant,  but  we  have  Catholic  neighbours 
and  priests,  if  you  have  any  choice  on  the  sub- 
ject.' 

"  '  How,'  I  said,  *  should  I  have  any  choice 


DE    LISLE.  177 

about  what  I  so  little  understand?  The  fa- 
mily of  Z ,  as  you  well  know,  is  Cathohc  ; 

mine  was  Protestant ;  and  therefore  it  was  never 
judged  necessary  to  give  me  any  instruction 
merely  religious  ;  and  I  confess,  that  the  few  de- 
vout persons  I  have  chanced  to  see  or  hear  of, 
inspire  me  with  no  great  respect  for  any  sect.' 

"  '  If  the  ignorant  or  the  mischievous  call 
bigotry  devotion,  we  can  hardly  make  religion 
bear  the  penalty  with  any  justice,'  coldly  re- 
marked Leontine. 

"  '  Neither  do  I  attack  religion.  To  despise 
what  you  do  not  understand,  is  a  weakness 
which  a  rational  being  ought  surely  not  to  in- 
dulge. Make  Agnes  gentle,  useful,  and  con- 
tented, and  let  her  call  herself  what  she  likes.' 

"  '  Then,'  said  Leontine,  with  a  smile,  *  I  will 
make  her,  if  possible,  religious.' 

"  Thus  ended  our  discourse  ;  and  I  confess 
it  was  with  a  sentiment  of  wonder  that  I  found 
myself  treated  with  so  much  consideration  by 
a  person  of  so  serious  a  turn.  I  had  met  with 
so  much  illiberality  from  those  of  her  class  of 
sentiment,  that  I  marvelled  to  see  native  equity 
and  sensibility  get  the  better,  as  it  were,  of  her 
strict  and  exclusive  tenets. 

''  Charles  accompanied  me  to  my   carriage, 

i5 


178  DE    LISLE. 

which  could  not  drive  to  his  house,  and  I  made 
an  observation  of  mingled  inquiry  and  eulo- 
gium  on  the  piety  of  his  wife. 

"'Yes,'  said  he  with  enthusiasm,  'had  re- 
ligion been  swept  from  the  earth,  a  soul  like 
Leontine's  would  have  guessed  it.' 

"'  But  what  I  admire  in  her,'  I  replied,  Ms, 
that  she  looks  the  convert  of  reason,  not  the 
victim  of  imagination.' 

'^  He  smiled :  '  It  would  take  more  time  than 
we  have  just  now,  to  discuss  what  reason  and 
imagination  really  are,  since  we  are  all  apt  to 
fancy  our  peculiar  prejudices  are  reasonable, 
and  to  ascribe  to  the  wanderings  of  imagina- 
tion those  impressions  and  feelings  which  are 
not  ours.  You,  lady,  have  been  brought  up 
in  luxury  and  learning;  how  many  pleasures 
both  give  you,  which  they  could  never  give 
my  simple  Leon  tine  !' 

" '  And  do  you  think,'  I  cried,  interrupting 
him,  '  that  my  pleasures  exceed  hers  ? — oh  !  be 
undeceived. — I  was  never  happy.' 

"  The  young  Intendant,  much  affected,  pressed 
my  hand  in  silence ; — he  continued,  '  It  is  just ; 
because  what  at  a  distance  seems  desirable,  and 
when  we  approach  it  is  found  to  be  hollow  and 
unsatisfactory,  that  so  few  of  us  can  say  we  are 


DE    LISLE.  379 

happy.  Sorrow  is  our  portion,  but  we  volun- 
tarily seek  much  that  we  might  avoid  ;  and  of 
that  which  must  be  borne,  how  is  the  burden 
increased  by  our  own  wayward  and  rebellious 
spirit !' 

" '  You  should  have  been  put  into  the 
ehurch,""  said  I,  much  amused  at  his  having 
thus  cast  himself  headlong  into  so  serious  a 
subject. 

"  '  I  think  not,  if  you  judge  of  my  fitness 
by  the  success  of  my  present  preaching,  or  by 
the  striking  proof  I  have  given  you  of  my  judg- 
ment, in  speaking  to  a  lady  well-informed  upon 
so  many  subjects,  about  the  only  one  of  which 
she  knows  nothing.' 

"  '  I  confess  my  ignorance — but  be  equitable, 
and  do  you  confess  that  I  have  but  little  en- 
couragement to  study,  what,  if  believed,  would 
but  make  me  more  wretched.  I  dare  not  ex- 
pect any  good  angel,  touched  with  my  conver- 
sion, would  provide  for  me  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence.' 

"  '  There  are  many  good  angels  that  touch 
the  hearts  of  our  fellow-creatures  in  our  behalf, 
which  comes  to  the  same  thing,  since  we  are 
but  instruments  in  one  hand.' 

My  experience  has   given  me  but  little 


(( ( 


180  DE    LISLE. 

faith  in  the  spontaneous  benevolence  of  man, 
and  this  begging  plan  would  be  as  useless  as  it 
is  painful.  How  would  you  yourself  like  to 
undergo  such  humiliation  ?' 

"  '  Humiliation  !'  repeated  the  Intendant,  in 
a  tone  of  voice  that  made  me  colour,  for  I  felt 
that  in  his  estimation  I  had  fallen  as  low  as  I 
could  go.  I  was  at  the  carriage-door,  and  we 
parted,  as  I  thought,  to  meet  no  more.  Some 
years  after,  we  did  meet ;  but,  in  the  interim, 
many  were  the  events  that  happened  to  both. 

"  I  remained  stationary  at  Dresden  a  consider- 
able  time.  The  place  pleased  me ;  and  I  col- 
lected around  me  a  society,  less  brilliant  than 
the  first  in  which  I  had  appeared,  less  interest- 
ing and  exciting  than  that  in  which  I  bore  so 
conspicuous  a  part  while  in  Sweden,  but,  upon 
the  whole,  pleasant,  as  being  neither  too  dull 
nor  too  riotous.  I  might  have  stayed  there  till 
now,  had  not  a  lady  taken  advantage  of  rather 
a  large  sum  of  money  being  lost  at  my  house, 
to  procure  an  order  from  the  court  for  my 
immediate  departure. 

"  I  might  have  pleaded  with  truth,  that  in  every 
third  house  higher  play  went  on  than  I  suffered 
in  mine;  but  who  would  have  listened  to  me? 
Besides,  some  other  pretext  would  have  been 


DE    LISLE. 


181 


speedily  found  by  my  unknown  foe,  for  I  had 
injured  her  as  seriously  as  it  was  unintentionally, 

"  She  was  a  person  of  note,  but  her  genealogy 
being  longer  than  her  purse,  she  had  affianced 
her  only  daughter,  with  great  exultation,  to  a 
young  man  of  equal  birth,  and  much  more 
splendid  fortune.  This  young  man,  whose  name 
was  Lesson,  was  in  the  constant  habit  of  supping 
at  my  house.  His  paternal  mansion  was  uncom- 
monly dull,  and  the  mixed  society  that  he  met 
with  me,  as  well  as  its  general  tone  of  pleasantry 
and  ease,  amused  him.  He  played  no  more  than 
what  he  thought  might  be  expected  of  him  ;  the 
attention  he  paid  me  was  exactly  upon  the  same 
plan  ;  and  I  make  no  doubt,  that,  after  his  mar- 
riage, he  would  have  made  his  own  house  plea- 
sant, and  I  should  have  seen  him  no  more. 

"  It  is  difficult  to  make  persons  of  a  certain 
cast  of  character  comprehend  that  every  thing 
is  not  passion  or  principle.  Idleness  and  habit 
appear  not  to  tliem  motives  strong  enough  for  our 
actions.  When  the  future  mother-in-law  of  my 
young  friend  discovered  how  he  disposed  of  his 
evenings,  she  remonstrated  very  warmly,  and  the 
young  lady  implored  him  with  tears  to  give  me 
up.  Certainly  it  would  have  been  no  sacrifice  on 
his  part ;  but,  hurt  at  the  cavalier  manner  of  the 


182  DE    LISLE. 

mother,  and  indignant  at  failing  to  convince  the 
daughter  that  he  cared  not  in  the  least  for  me, 
he  refused  to  be  dictated  to,  instead  of  being 
trusted,  %nd  they  parted  at  variance. 

''  He  affected  to  come  much  oftener  to  me, 
to  follow  me  in  public,  (which  he  had  never  done 
before,)  to  make  me  expensive  presents,  and  to 
boast  of  his  liberty.  Poor  soul  !  he  was  writh- 
ing in  misery  the  whole  time,  and  deceived  no 
one  but  her  he  loved  !  ^  * 

*'  In  the  meanwhile  she  was  acting  quite  as 
rational  a  part.  Fearful  of  being  suspected  of 
continuing  her  regard  for  one  she  thought  so 
unworthy,  she  determined  to  prove  her  indiffer- 
ence by  marrying  another.  It  was  kept  secret 
till  the  day  before  the  ceremony  was  to  have  taken 
place,  when  it  was  announced  at  my  table  in 
the  hearing  of  the  former  lover.  The  unfortu- 
nate Lesson  started  up  in  a  state  of  distraction 
and  rushed  out  of  the  house  ;  he  challenged  the 
expected  bridegroom,  wounded  him,  as  he  ima- 
gined fatally,  and  instantly  left  the  country. 

*' Although  these  hot-headed  people  had  carved 
out  all  this  mischief  for  themselves,  it  seemed 
as  difficult  to  set  to  rights  as  if  it  had  not 
been  their  own  work.  In  time  the  second  lover 
recovered,  and,  willing  to  find  out  more  of  his 


DE    LISLE.  183 

adversary's  motives  than  their  hasty  interview 
had  enabled  him  to  do,  called  upon  me.  I  told 
him  all  I  knew,  which  determined  him  not  to 
marry  a  person  who  was  evidently  taldng  him 
out  of  pique. 

"  The  mother,  furious  at  failing  twice  to  esta- 
blish her  daughter  handsomely,  and  looking 
upon  me  as  the  culprit,  vowed  vengeance,  and 
succeeded  in  getting  me  banished.  Exile,  indeed, 
was  not  much  to  me,  who  had  no  tie  to  any  land 
or  any  being  that  I  might  not  break  at  will. 

"  On  the  very  day  that  I  received  the  order 
to  leave  Dresden,  as  I  was  listening  to  the  la- 
mentations of  several  persons,  who  were  in  the 
habit  of  lounging  in  my  room,  and  were  natu- 
rally in  dismay  at  not  just  then  knowing  on 
whom  in  future  they  should  bestow  their  tedi- 
ousness,  young  Gustavus  Briihl  was  announced, 
or  rather,  as  usual,  preceding  his  name,  dashed 
into  the  room,  and  affecting  to  rend  his  hair, 
while  he  made  use  of  every  tragic  grimace  and 
action  he  could  think  of,  cast  himself  at  my  feet, 
and  implored  instant  death  at  my  hands. 

*'  It  was  his  aunt  who  had  fallen  on  so  effec- 
tual a  way  of  removing  me ;  but  dearly  as  Briihl 
loved  mischief,  no  one  ever  suspected  him  of  a 
cold,  sober  plan  to  injure  another ;  so  that  this 


184  DE    LISLE. 

scene  was  played  off  solely  to  amuse  himself  and 
us,  and  not  from  any  fear  of  my  resentment  or 
reproaches. 

"  He  was  commonly  called  the  little  Chevalier, 
not  that  he  was  particularly  diminutive  in  per, 
son,  but  he  was  extremely  young  and  playful, 
affecting  at  times  not  mere  levity  but  positive 
childishness.  '  What  a  pity  Brlihl  can  be  stea- 
dy to  nothing  !'  was  constantly  said  of  him,  when 
the  company  had  been  particularly  struck  by 
some  gleam  of  wit  or  feeling  mixed  up  with  his 
voluble  nonsense.  A  more  uncontrolled,  undis- 
ciplined boy  I  never  saw;  and  his  manner  and 
conversation  excited  temporary  indignation  in 
many:  but  he  begged  pardon  so  prettily,  laughed 
at  himself  in  so  easy  and  frolicksorae  a  way,  that 
every  one  ended  by  wondering  that  they  could 
have  been  angry  with  the  little  chevalier. 

"  I  loved  him  as  one  does  a  spoiled  monkey. 
I  knew  he  would  scratch  or  bite  whenever  the 
fancy  seized  him  ;  but  he  amused  me  so  much, 
that  there  was  no  one  I  so  much  regretted 
leaving  behind  ;  besides,  though  he  was  any 
thing  but  respectful,  I  could  not  resent  it,  be- 
cause it  did  not  seem  to  be  in  him  to  respect 
any  thing,  and  he  treated  me  better,  at  least, 
than  he  did  any  one  else. 


DE    LISLE.  185 

"  I  had  also  a  secret  presentiment  that  he 
would  one  day  check  his  exuberant  spirits, 
and  shake  off  the  follies  that  were  wrapped 
around  him,  indeed,  but  that  yet  I  sometimes 
thought  hung  loosely,  and  were  worn  from 
convenience  rather  than  necessity. 

"  This  opinion  I  mentioned  to  no  one,  for  I 
knew  it  would  gain  no  credit,  but  it  did  not 
escape  the  lynx  eye  of  Brlihl  himself;  and,  as  if 
he  gloried  in  puzzling  me,  he  redoubled  his 
extravagant  ways, — and  when  he  had  made  a 
speech  so  long,  so  animated,  and  so  confused, 
that  no  guess  of  its  meaning  could  be  attempted, 
he  would  cast  at  me  a  look  of  sly  triumph,  and 
seem  in  a  delirium  of  joy,  while  watching  the 
smile  that  ran  round  the  room,  and  the  super- 
cilious look  by  which  every  one  seemed  dispo- 
sed to  say,  '  The  existence  of  such  folly  is 
marvellous — only  think  of  giving  it  utterance  !" 
Always  in  motion,  glancing  athwart  your  path, 
and  suddenly  lost  to  view,  he  was  like  those 
bright  insects  that  a  sunbeam  shows  you,  en- 
dianted,  as  it  were,  with  their  own  rapid  flight, 
but  too  quick  and  dazzling  for  the  eye  to 
follow. 

*'  Alive  as  he  was  to  mischief  and  fun  of 
every  sort,  I  did  not  wonder   that  he  should 


186  DE    LTSLE. 

sometimes  indulge  in  the  pleasure  of  bewilder- 
ing others ;  but  that  at  no  time  he  should  covet 
their  applause,  was  strange  to  me,  who  sickened 
for  the  esteem  of  those  I  myself  esteemed  not. 
I  did  not  very  often  try  for  an  instant  to  arrest 
my  little  quicksilver  friend,  for  the  purpose  of 
seriously  investigating  what  his  disposition  might 
one  day  become,  for,  in  truth,  I  liked  him  as  he 
was,  and  could  have  looked  for  hours  with 
interest  and  amusement  at  a  countenance  so 
changeable  and  brilliant,  could  he  have  prevailed 
upon  himself  to  sit  quiet  half  an  hour  for  any 
purpose,  but,  least  of  all,  the  purpose  of  being 
scrutinized  too  deeply. 

-  "It  was  this  various,  mischievous,  yet  at- 
taching creature  that  appeared  to  take  his  leave 
of  me  in  so  characteristic  a  style.  I  supported 
the  farce  of  eternal  resentment  for  an  injury  to 
which  I  well  knew  he  was  no  ways  accessary, 
for  a  few  minutes;  and  then  intreating  him  to 
have  mercy  on  my  furniture,  as  I  should  have 
no  time  to  have  it  repaired  if  he  broke  any,  I 
renewed  the  conversation  his  abrupt  entrance 
had  suspended. 

"  But  Briihl  had  no  notion  of  not  being  at- 
tended to.     With  a  sly  kick  he  overturned  a 


DE    LISLE.  187 

little  table  near  me,  and  down  came  a  dejeunt 
of  beautiful  china,  and  an  inkstand  that  failed 
not  to  send  its  jetty  streams  meandering  across 
the  floor.  There  was  an  immediate  confusion, 
and  even  I  was  obliged  to  move  to  escape  a 
black  train  to  my  gown. 

"  '  Thank  Heaven  !'  cried  the  incorrigible 
little  Chevalier,  '  I  have  got  you  out  of  that 
great  chair  at  last ;  and  now  listen  to  me.' 

"  He  led  me  by  the  ends  of  my  scarf  out  of 
hearing,  and  resumed,  '  I  never  yet  paid  you  a 
compliment  that  was  worth  having — it  was  wise 
to  keep  something  in  reserve  against  our  part- 
ing. You  must  do  to-morrow  a  kind  act  for 
me  to  my  little  cousin,  whose  mother — '  he 
paused. 

"  '  Has  done  an  unkind  one  by  me,  you  mean, 
I  suppose.  I  can  forgive  their  hatred  the  more 
readily,  as  I  suffer,  in  truth,  little  from  their 
resentment.     What  would  you  have  me  do .?' 

*'  'Order  your  carriage  to-morrow  an  hour 
earlier,  and  stop  at  the  great  church  on  your 
left  hand.  It  will  be  dark,  but  the  church  will 
be  open,  and  lighted  up.  If  I  can  be  there,  I 
will ;  if  not,  go  in,  and  you  will  find  my  cousin 
praying.     It  is  the  hour  at  which  she  goes  with 


188  DE    LISLE. 

only  her  maid.  Find  some  way  of  addressing 
her,  and  tell  her  where  Lesson  now  is ;  that  he 
still  loves  her,  and  never  loved  any  one  else."* 

'* '  Am  I  to  make  that  gratifying  confession 
in  my  own  name .?'  asked  I  with  a  smile,  not  so 
much  at  the  oddity  of  the  request,  as  at  the 
unusual  seriousness  of  the  speaker. 

*' '  Assuredly  !  in  no  other  would  it  have  any 
weight.** 

"  *  Chevalier,  I  will  not  refuse  :  first,  because 
I  like  to  oblige  you ;  and  secondly,  because  you 
might  misconstrue  my  motives  were  I  to  de- 
cline :  but  tell  me  why  you  do  not  inform  her 
of  this  yourself.'^' 

"  He  looked  irresolute  for  a  moment ;  then 
darting  on  me  one  of  those  piercing  glances, 
with  which  he  seemed  to  dive  into  the  very  soul, 
he  said,  '  Who  shall  keep  my  counsel  if  I  cannot 
keep  it  myself  ?  Enough  that  I  scarcely  see  my 
cousin,  and  would  not  be  listened  to  were  I  to 
make  any  one  of  these  assertions.' 

" '  You  will  laugh  at  me,  Gustavus,  but  I 
would  I  could  make  them  any  where  but  in  a 
church  !"* 

"  '  Why  so  ;  are  they  not  true  ?' 

Are  they  quite  the  subjects  to  be  discussed 


a  i 


DE    LISLE.  189 

in  the  house   of  prayer  and   the  sanctuary  of 
death?' 

**  '  Your  reproof  is  just ;  but  custom  autho- 
rizes the  discussion  of  yet  less  pious  topics  in  a 
Catholic  church,  at  a  moment  when  service  is 
not  actually  celebrating.  That  the  air  of  a 
place  of  worship  should  have  an  eff'ect  on  those 
who  enter  it  with  devotional  feelings ;  that  the 
ground  on  which  they  stand  to  them  is  holy 
ground,  I  can  understand  and  believe.  But 
what  pan  it  be  to  you  ?  The  spot  has  no  sacred 
association  in  your  mind ;  you  have  heard  there 
no  word  of  power ;  you  have  shed  there  no  tear 
of  pious  gratitude ;  the  whole  edifice  to  you 
is  as  a  blank  ;  and  since  in  the  living  you  have 
no  interest,  the  ashes  of  the  dead  should  be 
more  silent  still.' 

"  The  little  Chevalier  might  have  gone  on 
much  longer  uninterrupted,  for  he  had  touched 
a  string  that  jarred  my  own  desolateness  ;  and 
I  felt  bowed  to  the  earth  by  a  boy,  whose  spor- 
tive temper  and  merry  gambols  had  made  me 
hitherto  consider  him  as  my  plaything,  certain- 
ly never  as  my  judge.  I  said  nothing,  and  join- 
ed the  rest  of  the  party,  who  were  still  lament- 
ing over  my  broken  cups. 


190  DE    LISLE. 

"  The  exaggeration  of  conversation  never 
strikes  one  as  so  ludicrously  contemptible,  as 
at  the  moment  when  something  serious  and  real 
has  acted  on  the  feelings.  The  pang  was  still 
at  my  heart,  and  I  had  no  patience  to  complain 
about  china. 

"At  the  appointed  hour,  on  the  following 
day,  I  stopped  at  the  gateway  to  the  church, 
and  finding  no  one  awaiting  me,  I  entered  alone. 
I  had  written  a  few  lines,  in  case  I  should  have 
no  opportunity  of  speaking  to  the  young  lady. 
The  church  was  uncommonly  dark  ;  the  only 
light  there  was  fell  full  on  a  kneeling  figure,  who 
answered  the  description  given  by  Gustavus  of 
his  cousin.  She  had,  however,  a  female  com- 
panion ;  and  rather  wishing  it  might  not  be  her 
mother,  I  approached  cautiously.  Perhaps  my 
stealing  step  attracted  attention  sooner  than  a 
more  careless  one  would  have  done.  The  ladies 
both  turned  their  heads,  and  displayed  features 
and  physiognomies  so  strikingly  dissimilar,  that 
a  painter  might  have  chosen  them  merely  as 
contrasts,  though  they  had  also  pretensions  to 
much  individual  beauty. 

"  The  one  I  sought  was  evidently  the  oldest, 
but  had  she  been  of  the  same  age  she  would 


DE    LISLE.  191 

have  still  looked  the  eldest.  It  was  the  style 
of  her  beauty,  whicli  had  neither  spirit  nor 
lightness  to  recommend  it ;  even  her  humble 
attitude  was  noble  and  imposing,  rather  than 
graceful  and  touching.  The  outline  of  her  face 
was  Grecian;  but  it  was  cold,  almost  amounting 
to  severity.  Her  heavy  eye  fell  upon  me,  and 
was  withdrawn  without  any  apparent  conscious- 
ness of  having  seen  any  thing.  Not  so  her  com- 
panion, who,  by  a  quick  motion  of  her  head 
shaking  back  the  long  fair  hair  that  almost 
blinded  her,  fixed  upon  me  a  pair  of  laughing 
blue  eyes,  in  which  surprise  and  curiosity  were 
depicted ;  then,  colouring  at  my  observation, 
hastily  cast  them  on  the  ground. 

"  There  were  several  persons  at  no  great  dis- 
tance from  us ;  it  was  in  Italian,  therefore,  that 
I  said,  '  A  stranger  hopes  for  your  prayers, 
gentle  ladies.' 

"  The  youngest  made  the  sign  of  the  cross, 
and,  bowing  her  head,  in  a  low  tone  replied, 
'  Assuredly  !' 

"  *  And  you,'  I  continued,  addressing  her 
companion  ;  '  do  you  refuse  my  petition  ?' 

"She  arose,  and  with  an  air  of  grave  dig- 
nity, the  most  chilling  I  had  ever  witnessed. 


192  DE    LISLE. 

I 

said,  '  I  am  ever  ready  to  pray  for  the  unfortu- 
nate.' 

"  '  Then,  lady,  redouble  your  petitions  for 
Count  Lesson,  for  he  is  surely  unfortunate.' 

'*  There  was  a  shade  of  displeasure  on  her 
unbending  features,  as  she  replied,  '  Doubtless, 
for  he  is  guilty !' 

*'  '  Not  so  guilty  as  you  think  ;  he  is  not  un- 
faithful.' I  held  out  the  letter  as  I  spoke.  She 
blushed,  but  it  was  with  indignation. 

"  *  Tell  your  employer,'  she  said  contemp- 
tuously, '  that  I  never  receive  letters  clandes- 
tinely, and  should  not  begin  in  a  church.  He 
should  have  known  me  better :'  and  making  a 
sign  to  her  companion,  she  would  have  passed 
me. 

"  I  stepped  forward  to  prevent  her.  '  Heur 
me !'  I  cried,  '  hear  but  one  word  for  your  own 
sake.  It  was  not  Count  Lesson  that  wished 
me  to  justify  his  conduct  to  you.  Knowing  his 
pride,  how  could  you  think  it  ?  It  was  a  secret 
friend  who  doubtless  thought  you  might  re- 
gret the  man  you  once  intended  to  wed.  He 
wished  me  to  assure  you  of  Lesson's  unabated 
tenderness  and ' 

"  She  stopped  me.  '  What  is  his  tenderness 
to  me  ?    Was  it  strong  enough  to  cut  the  Gor- 


DE    LISLE.  193 

dian  knot  that  bound  him  to  a  worthless  wo- 
man ?  or  to  save  from  his  dagger  the  life  of 
my  affianced  husband  T 

"  *  Lady,  your  accusations  refute  one  an» 
other.  If  you  did  not  love  Lesson,  how  could 
you  be  jealous  of  him  ?  And  if  you  did  love 
him,  can  you  quarrel  with  him  for  risking  his 
life  rather  than  lose  you  .P' 

"  '  And  by  what  right  did  he  seek  to  make 
an  honest  man  the  victim  of  his  lawless  pas- 
sions ?  his  own  life  was  not  his  to  risk,  still  less 
that  of  another.  We  were  parted.  I  asked  a 
sacrifice  which  he  would  not  make.  He  weigh- 
ed me  against  a  hired  mistress,  and  I  was  found 
light  in  the  balance.  It  was  well ;  I  had  not 
his  heart,  but,  at  least,  I  had  my  own  liberty, 
and  could  dispose  of  it  without  consulting  him.' 

"  Her  haughty  manner  and  bitter  tone  pro- 
voked me.  There  was  no  reason  why  I  should 
bear  it ;  and  stepping  back  no  longer  to  oppose 
her  retreat,  I  bowed  in  silence. 

"  She  seemed  struck  with  the  change,  and  in 
a  softer  accent  said,  '  If,  indeed.  Lesson  did  not 
prompt  you  to  this  bold  step,  who  did  ?' 

" '  One,'  I  replied,  '  I  never  more  may  see, 
but  whom  I  do  not  therefore  intend  to  betray.' 

"  '  I   am  sure,"  said  the  younger  lady,  who 

VOL.    I.  K 


194"  DE    LISLE. 

had  hitherto  watched  us  in  silence,  though  with 
eager  looks — 'I  am  sure  that  it  was  my  brother, 
for  you  are  Madame  de  Lausanne.' 

"  I  smiled.  ^  Who  you  are,  fair  lady,  I 
know  not,  and  therefore  cannot  say  who  your 
brother  may  be ;  but,  it  seems,  you  know  who 
I  am.' 

*'  One  would  have  thought  my  name  pos- 
sessed a  petrifying  quality,  for  the  cousin  of 
Gustavus  remained  immovable  after  she  had 
heard  it,  leaning  against  a  pillar,  her  eyes  dis- 
tended and  fixed  upon  me  ;  while  her  cheek 
turned  from  red  to  white,  and  settled  at  last 
into  a  livid  paleness. 

"  I  was  shocked  ;  but,  before  I  could  speak, 
she  addressed  me  in  a  low,  sepulchral  tone. 
'  The  evil  you  have  done  cannot  be  recalled  ; 
the  misery  you  have  inflicted  cannot  be  unfelt ; 
but  spare  !  oh  spare  Gustavus  !  choose  some 
older,  richer,  steadier  victim,  but  let  my  youth- 
ful cousin  escape !' 

"  She  stopped  ;  but  her  clasped  hands,  her 
beseeching  look,  her  attitude,  which  was  almost 
as  if  she  would  have  cast  herself  at  my  feet,  did 
not  speak  less  to  the  soul  than  her  words.  I 
mildly  implored  her  to  be  calm,  told  her  what- 
ever evil  she  might  fear  from  my  presence  must 


DE    LISLE.  195 

cease  now,  since  at  her  mother's  instigation  I 
was  sent  out  of  the  country,  and  should  quit 
Dresden  in  a  few  minutes. 

'*  She  started,  and  quickly  answered,  '  This 
is  revenge,  not  justice  !  If  you  choose  to  be  re- 
called, I  will  solicit  for  you.  The  feehngs  of 
private  families  should  not  sway  pubHc  men  ; 
and  if  you  have  not  drawn  down  upon  you  this 
exile  in  some  other  way,  you  shall  not  be  sacri- 
ficed to  our  enmity,  however  deserved.' 

"  '  And  what,  lady,'  I  coldly  rejoined,  '  if 
Therese  de  Lausanne  too  is  proud  ?  Think  you, 
how  dear  soever  Dresden  might  be  to  me,  I 
would  be  recalled  by  ^ou  f  You  have  accused 
me,— nay,  reviled  and  scorned  me, — unknown, 
unheard,  I  am  condemned  by  you.  Oppressed 
by  one  of  your  family,  I  liave  some  right  to 
complain  of  you,  and  yet  I  came  here  to  assuage 
your  sorrows  by  justifying  your  lover.  Mis- 
take me  not,  I  lay  no  claim  to  your  gratitude. 
I  did  it  not  for  your  sake ;  for  what  were  you  to 
me  ?  Yet  with  an  unbiassed  spirit  did  I  meet 
the  daughter  of  my  persecutor  :  it  was  possible 
you  were  not  my  enemy  ;  and  if  you  were,  you 
thought  you  had  cause,  and  I  could  forgive  it.' 

"  My  words  kindled  to  a  flame  the  haughty 
temper  of  her  I  addressed :  her  pale  cheek  was 

K  2 


196  DE    LISLE. 

flushed  with  crimson,  and  her  calm  eye  flashed 
fire.  Yet  her  self-controul  did  not  desert  her. 
She  stood  for  a  moment,  as  if  unwilling  to  seem 
as  though  she  could  shrink  from  ought  I  might 
say ;  then  bowing  with  the  air  of  one  who  dis- 
dained to  answer,  she  moved  on  slow  and  stately. 
I  followed,  without  a  wish  to  renew  our  con- 
versation, but  willing  to  lose  no  more  time,  as 
I  had  some  distance  to  travel. 

"  At  the  porch  I  heard  the  youngest  of  the 
ladies  exclaim  in  a  subdued  tone,  '  My  bro- 
ther !'  and  immediately  Gustavus  sprung  for- 
ward. Without  noticing  either  his  sister  or 
cousin,  he  exclaimed,  'Where  are  you,  Therese? 
time  wears,  and  the  gates  will  be  closed  !' 

"  I  obeyed  the  impulse  of  his  arm,  and  hurried 
on  to  the  carriage.  '  Can  you  tell  me,'  said  he, 
'  in  two  words,  what  has  passed  ?' 

"  '  No;  but  you  can  accompany  me  to  the  first 
barrier,  and  I  will  tell  you  all."* 

"  He  jumped  into  the  carriage,  and  by  the 
light  of  my  lamps  I  beheld  the  ladies  we  had 
quitted  joined  by  a  servant,  but  lingering  on  their 
way  to  cast  a  look  of  regret  after  Gustavus. 
How  much  gratuitous  misery  there  is  in  the 
world !  One  would  have  thought,  from  their 
anxious  faces,  that  I  was  at  least  an  evil  spirit 


DE    LISLE.  197 

flying  away  with  their  friend  to  some  unknown 
region,  from  whence  escape  would  scarcely  be 
possible.  Instead  of  which  I  was  a  very  quiet 
person  taking  a*  boy  a  drive  of  a  few  hundred 
yards,  after  which  we  were  to  part  without  any 
probable  chance  of  ever  meeting  again. 

"  When  I  had  given  the  promised  relation  to 
the  little  Chevalier,  he  laughed  at  the  anxiety 
expressed  about  himself.  '  These  virtuous  dam- 
sels,' said  he,  '  think  one  lost  unless  we  for 
ever  breathe  in  their  holy  atmosphere  ;  not  that 
I  am  disposed  to  quiz  my  cousin,  who  is  a 
superior  and  irreproachable  person ;  a  little  upon 
stilts, — but  that  is  not  wonderful,  it  being  the 
consequence  of  her  unbending  principles.  You 
think  it  is  her  temper  that  is  inflexible — not  a 
bit  of  it ;  she  was  meant  to  be  very  amiable,  but 
unluckily  was  born  with  a  great  deal  of  en- 
thusiasm. Now  this  is  a  quality,  or  sentiment, 
call  it  what  you  will,  that  can  hardly  be  anni- 
hilated :  like  a  smothering  fire,  quench  it  in  one 
place  and  it  will  burst  out  in  another. 

'' '  My  poor  cousin,  firmly  convinced  that  en- 
thusiasm led  to  passion,  and  passion  always  to 
extravagance,  and  often  to  wickedness,  set  about 
modelling  her's  after  a  fashion  of  her  own.  It 
will  do  for  her,  for  she  is  pure  and  upright ; 


198  DE    LISLE. 

• 

but  her  rules  are  too  severe  for  others,  parti- 
cularly for  them  who  mix  at  all  in  the  world. 

" '  She  has  quarrelled  with  an  only  brother 
she  doated  upon,  because  he  married  a  new  love 
in  preference  to  an  old  one.  Now  she  liked  the 
new  love  and  did  not  like  the  old  one  ;  and  not 
a  soul  could  ever  understand  her  giving  up  her 
brother  for  a  woman  she  did  not  care  twopence 
for.  She  thought  it  dishonourable  in  him  to 
change  his  mind ;  the  more  so,  as  she  piques  herself 
on  her  own  stedfastness,  not  to  persons,  but  to 
principles.  She  loved  Lesson,  and  a  little  j  ealousy 
unknown  to  herself  may  have  mingled  with  her 
desire  to  separate  you  and  him ;  but  she  said, 
and  I  make  no  doubt  believed,  that  she  only 
urged  him  to  do  what  was  right  for  his  own 
sake,  and  should  never  esteem  him  if  he  kept  up 
an  acquaintance  she  thought  disgraceful. 

"  '  Lesson  was  much  attached  to  her,  but  he  is 
proud  ;  he  did  not  approve  of  being  dragooned 
into  virtue,  and  you  know  the  result.  His 
duel,  which  might  have  recorhmended  him  to 
many  a  love-sick  Miss,  filled  the  pious  ,mind  of 
my  cousin  with  horror.  To  her  it  appeared 
both  the  act  of  a  maniac  and  a  savage.  Still  I 
thought  she  loved  him,  though  perhaps  in  spite 
of  herself ;    not  so  much  from  her  depression 


DE    LISLE.  199 

since  their  quarrel,  as  from  the  look  of  serenity 
she  has  worn  since  the  breaking  oif  of  her  second 
engagement. 

*' '  Then,  you  see,  I  would  have  reconciled 
them  ;  but  if  she  won't  be  softened,  why  she 
must  console  herself  with  her  obstinacy  the  best 
way  she  can,  and  call  it  lofty  sentiment  and 
indispensable  consistency.' 

"  '  And  perhaps,'  said  I,  '  so  it  is,  though  pos- 
sibly a  little  distorted.' 

" '  It  is  utter  nonsense,'  cried  the  little  Che- 
valier impatiently ;  '  and  I  wish  you,  who  are 
clever,  would  explain  to  me  why  so  many  more 
silly  things  are  done  by  wise  women  than  by 
fools.' 

"  '  Perhaps  it  only  strikes  you  more,  as  being 
a  greater  incongruity.' 

'* '  No,  no ;  it's  a  positive  fact.  How  many  more 
unaccountable  things  an  intellectual  woman  does, 
that  a  mere  frivolous  Miss  would  avoid  as  too 
absurd  !  How  much  more  apt  they  are  to  have 
treacherous  friends  and  stupid  tyrannical  hus- 
bands I  I  pray  Heaven  !  my  daughter  may  be  a 
driveller,  and  I  am  fully  determined  she  shall 
never  learn  to  read  or  write.' 

'*  'And  your  wife  ? ' 

"  '  Oh !  my  wife !  don't  give  me  the  ague :  I  ne- 


200  DE    LISLE. 

ver  think  about  disagreeable  things,  and  so  I  will 
think  as  little  about  bidding  you  adieu  as  possible.' 
"  So  saying,  he  hastily  embraced  me,  let  him- 
self out  of  the  carriage,  and  told  them  to  drive 
on,  before  I  felt  quite  certain  he  was  no  longer  by 
my  side.  It  was  well  that  he  committed  himself 
by  no  comments  on  his  future  wife,  for  two  years 
after  I  heard  a  dispensation  had  been  procured, 
and  that  Gustavus  Briihl  became  by  the  death 
of  several  relations  an  excellent  match,  and  was 
married  to  this  very  cousin  he  had  described  so 
cavalierly.  Whether  she  became  more  indul- 
gent, or  he  became  less  so,  I  never  learned. 

"  I  made  the  best  of  my  way  to  Berlin,  less 
from  any  curiosity  to  see  this  creation  of  a  royal 
philosopher,  than  because  it  suited  me  to  go  to 
the  only  place  to  which  I  could,  in  the  hurry 
of  the  moment,  procure  letters  of  introduction. 
The  country  through  which  I  passed  had  so  little 
to  recommend  it,  that  I  turned  to  my  books  to 
beguile  the  lassitude  of  the  way.  But,  in  the 
hurry  of  my  departure,  nothing  had  been  ar- 
ranged, nothing  was  found  at  hand  that  T  wanted. 

''  I  turned  over  the  leaves  of  a  heavy  narrative 
of  the  campaigns  of  the  great  King  of  Prussia ; 
but  more  recent  exploits  in  that  very  country  he 
had  so  often  overrun  seemed  to  throw  to  a  dis- 


DE    LISLE.  201 

tance  events,  the  magnitude  of  which  had  been 
once  considered  with  breathless  anxiety  by  gene- 
rals and  kingdoms:  the  former  had  scarcely 
left  a  name  behind,  while  the  latter  had  under- 
gone changes  more  or  less  wonderful  or  dread- 
ful. A  conqueror  had  set  his  foot  on  Prussia, 
who  paid  with  her  blood  the  aggressions  she 
had  in  her  hour  of  prosperity  made  on  the 
defencelesss  Poles. 

"  As  I  pondered  on  these  things  in  the  shift- 
ing drama  of  life,  I  became  more  and  more 
disgusted  with  the  prognostics  of  my  author. 
It  was  true,  that  I  had  no  right  to  quarrel  with 
a  man,  because  he  had  not  the  art  of  divining ; 
but  his  impertinent  prophecies,  which  a  little,  a 
very  little  time  had  given  the  lie  to,  put  me  out 
of  humour,  and  I  once  more  visited  the  pockets 
of  the  carriage,  in  hopes  of  routing  out  some- 
thing more  amusing.  Success  did  not  reward 
my  perseverance.  I  could  find  nothing  better 
than  an  English  novel,  which  at  first  gave  me 
hopes ;  but,  turning  to  the  title  page,  I  found  it 
was  '  St.  Leon.'  I  knew  the  book  but  too  well, 
I  remembered  it  but  too  accurately. 

*'  To  an  ordinary  person,  the  works  of  God- 
win are  but  as  a  bad  dream,  from  which  he  turns 
hastily  aside,  regretting  that  the  talents  of  the 

K   5 


^02  DE    LISLE. 

author  will  not  suffer  him  to  consign  it  to  in- 
stant oblivion.  On  those  who  possess  imagi- 
nation and  sensibility,  these  singular  produc- 
tions of  distorted  genius  have,  of  course,  a 
much  stronger  eifect.  Any  unexplored  path  of 
feeling  and  suffering  is  entered  upon  by  such 
persons  with  delight,  though  they  may  writhe 
under  the  torture  they  have  voluntarily  inflict- 
ed upon  themselves.  But  even  they  reap  from 
such  books  but  transient  pain. 

"  Fresh  thoughts  and  real  sorrows  soon  blunt 
the  remembrance,  however  keen,  of  idle  fic- 
tions. To  me,  St.  Leon  was  an  undying  pang. 
I  was  not  indeed  immortal — I  was  not  myste- 
rious— I  was  not  suspected  of  ought  I  was  not 
content  to  avow,  though  possibly  not  quite 
able  to  justify  ; — but  St.  Leon  himself  was  not 
more,  without  tie  and  kindred,  than  myself. 
I  had  no  recourse  to  supernatural  means,  and 
yet,  like  him,  I  felt  surrounded  by  beings  I 
pressed  against,  but  could  not  mingle  with. 
My  desultory  life  seemed  to  have  already 
stretched  its  span  beyond  the  narrow  limits 
assigned  to  man.  In  the  days  of  careless  child- 
hood, what  had  I  not  felt  and  suffered  !  Time 
advanced,  but  it  brought  to  me  only  increased 
oppression,   and   a  more    entire   conviction   of 


DE    LISLE.  203 

solitude.  1  cultivated  my  faculties,  indeed,  and 
rejoiced  at  times  in  their  splendour:  but  I 
forgot  not  that  all  this,  and  more  than  this, 
was  but  as  some  bright  painting  upon  dust 
and  ashes;  that,  with  all  my  efforts,  I  was 
little  more  than  the  houses  in  Berlin,  whose 
gaudy  fronts  are  the  mask  of  wretchedness  ! 

"  The  sentiments  of  St.  Leon,  cut  off  from 
his  species,  not  daring  to  love  where  he  knew 
he  would  not  be  trusted ;  conscious  of  superior 
powers,  which  cast  around  him  a  gloomy  splen- 
dour, and  yet  bitterly  feeling  their  insufficiency 
to  confer  happiness  on  himself  or  others  ;  all 
this, — nay  his  very  selfishness  and  juvenile  va- 
nity were  but  the  mirror  that  reflected  my 
own  impressions.  I  saw,  too,  that  in  propor- 
tion as  the  injustice  of  the  world  increased  his 
misery — his  lonely  misery — he  grew  colder  in 
heart,  and  weaker  in  principle. 

"  It  was  like  perusing  my  own  destiny,  and, 
Cassandra  like,  I  beheld  the  future,  over  which 
Providence  throws  a  veil  to  most  observers. 
What  I  suffered  when  first  I  read  this  singular 
production  of  the  English  novelist  I  cannot 
describe,  and  no  one  can  guess ;  for,  to  do  so 
with  any  truth,  vhere  must  be  a  previous  know- 
ledge of  my  character,  as  well  as  the  dej;ails 


204  DE    LISLE. 

of  my  situation,  which  no  one  can  know : 
for  the  first,  it  has  been  worth  no  one's  while 
to  study ;  and  the  second;  I  labour  to  forget 
myself.  It  is  not  the  mere  absence  of  every 
benevolent  feeling  that  renders  the  perusal  of 
Godwin's  works  so  painful ;  it  is  not  the  gloomy 
picture  he  draws  of  life,  (for  that  could  hardly 
appal  those  who  are  not  actually  suffering;) 
it  is  not  his  refinements  on  egotism — chilling 
and  debasing  as  such  reflections  are — no,  it  is 
something  more — some  inexplicable,  mysterious 
power,  that  startles  the  very  inward  spirit,  and 
remains  as  a  dead  weight  on  the  heart,  which, 
by  every  effort  to  throw  it  off,  is  fixed  there 
the  more  ponderously  and  immovably. 

"  When  I  had  finished  St.  Leon,  I  felt  that 
I  could  encounter  a  supernatural  being,  how 
powerful  and  mischievous  soever,  with  less  ter- 
ror and  bitterness — I  had  almost  said  less  ha- 
tred— than  would  be  excited  by  the  presence 
of  a  man  capable  of  pouring  forth,  in  so  many 
successive  volumes,  opinions  and  sentiments 
which  doubtless  occur  to  many  for  a  moment, 
but  which  scarcely  could  be  the  constant  habit 
of  thought  with  any  one  ;  and  which,  at  any 
rate,  the    unfortunate   person    suffering   under 


DE    LISLE.  205 

would    in    mercy   withdraw   from   the  public 
eye. 

"  Few  could  have  a  right  to  think  worse  of 
mankind  than  myself.  I  could  not  have  much 
sympathy  with  excellence,  because  I  was  so 
unfortunate  as  usually  to  doubt  its  existence  * 
so  far  ray  impressions  were  in  unison  with  those 
of  the  Englishmen ;  but  here  I  stopped.  I 
had  no  fiendlike  joy  in  detecting  every  where 
meanness  and  heartlessness.  I  could  trust 
nothing  that  I  saw  ;  but  I  loved  to  believe  that 
there  existed  beings  I  did  not  see  worthy  to  be 
trusted.  And  even  if  it  were  true,  as  I  some- 
times feared,  that  every  individual,  when  un- 
masked, betrays  the  same  odious  features,  it 
was  a  consolation  to  me  to  reflect,  that  as  thou- 
sands could  not  be  behind  the  scenes,  the  pa- 
geant to  them  was  gay  and  cheerful.  What 
if  it  were  an  illusion  ?  it  had  on  them  the  ef- 
fect of  reality,  and  things  are  but  what  they 
seem. 

"  I  envied  the  pleasant  dreams  of  others,  and 
could  not  imagine  the  wanton  barbarity  of  lar- 
bouring  to  rouse  them  by  destroying  their  in- 
nocent pleasure.  The  disenchanted  earth  to  me 
had  no  lustre  to  lose  ;  but  I  could  remember 


206 


DE    LISLE. 


with  pleasure,  that  others  continued  to  see  in 
it  the  rainbow  lines  of  varied  bliss.  With  such 
a  fund  of  dislike  to  Godwin,  it  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at,  that  I  carefully  avoided  his  works,  and 
was  more  disposed  to  pitch  St.  Leon  out  of 
the  carriage-window  into  the  snow,  than  to  at- 
tempt a  second  perusal  of  a  book  which  awak- 
ened such  peculiarly  painful  associations  in  my 
mind.  I  had  a  few  more  novels  scattered  about, 
in  odd  volumes,  and  I  tried  to  read  them  ; 
but  those  in  my  own  languai^e  had  so  much 
passion  or  metaphysics,  or  both,  interwoven 
with  their  stories,  and  the  French  ones  were  so 
mawkishly  sentimental  and  artificial,  that  I  soon 
found  lulling  me  to  «leep  was  the  best  service 
I  should  get  at  their  hands. 

"  My  tedious  journey  was  rewarded  at  last, 
as,  on  a  clear  bright  day  I  entered  Berlin,  which 
is  one  of  the  largest,  cleanest,  and  most  highly 
ornamented  towns  in  Germany.  Its  environs 
are  desolate  without  wildness,  and  melancholy 
without  sublimity.  The  heavy  sand,  in  which 
my  carriage  sank  at  every  step  much  deeper 
than  was  pleasant,  had  fatigued  me  nearly  as 
much  as  it  must  have  done  the  horses ;  and 
when  immediately  afterwards  I  beheld  gardens 
mixed  with  the  houses,  avenues  of  trees,  and  a 


DE    LISLE.  207 

small  but  sunny  river  passing  through  the 
town,  my  eye,  gladdened  and  refreshed,  was 
prepared  to  like  every  thing  it  might  rest  upon 
in  Berlin. 

*'  I  did  not  remain  many  days  at  the  inn 
where  I  first  stopped.  An  eminent  painter,  to 
whom  I  had  been  recommended,  insisted  upon 
receiving  me  in  his  own  house  during  my  stay 
in  the  Prussian  capital.  I  could  not  have  met 
with  a  more  useful  cicerone,  or  a  more  intel- 
ligent acquaintance.  His  house  was  splendid, 
and  his  table  open,  not  merely  to  the  indigent 
of  his  own  class,  but  to  every  traveller  who 
had  any  claim  to  literary  merit,  and  every 
artist  that  chance  threw  in  his  way. 

"  He  was  unmarried,  and,  engrossed  by  his 
profession,  had  no  time  to  court  the  society  of 
women.  A  lady,  indeed,  resided  under  his 
roof,  but  without  taking  any  charge  of  the  do- 
mestic arrangements.  She  was  the  painter's 
model — not  his  mistress — still  less,  if  possible, 
his  companion.  When  I  accepted  the  invita- 
tion of  my  new  acquaintance  to  his  house,  I  was 
not  aware  that  I  should  find  any  one  with  him. 
He  mentioned  the  circumstance  slightly  as  we 
were  going  up-stairs,  and  did  not  even  seem  to 
think  an  introduction  necessary. 


208  DE    LISLE. 

"  Though  extremely  struck  on  first  behold- 
ing a  form  of  such  singular  symmetry,  I  did  not 
venture  to  look  much  at  the  fair  stranger,  fear- 
ful of  embarrassing  her  ;  but  this  fear  soon  sub- 
sided, and  I  had  not  been  many  hours  in  the 
house  before  I  discovered  this  breathing  auto- 
maton was  nearly  as  incapable  of  emotion  as 
the  marble  statues  that  stood  in  the  gallery. 
There  was  some  shyness  too  between  us,  on  ac- 
count of  our  relative  situations.  Though  I  was 
a  stranger  in  that  country,  and  a  mere  visitor 
at  the  painter's,  I  did  not  affect  to  conceal  what 
I  had  been,  and  really  could  not  persuade  my- 
self tliat  the  profession  of  my  companion  was 
one  bit  more  creditable.  But  she  thought 
otherwise — modesty,  she  believed,  might  be  a 
grace,  but  was  not  a  virtue  ;  whereas,  chastity 
appeared  to  her  an  indispensable  one. 

"  She  was  not  positively  rude  to  me,  for  all 
her  qualities  and  sentiments  were  of  too  nega- 
tive a  sort  to  admit  of  her  taking  very  decided 
steps  in  any  matter ;  but  I  was  so  evidently  a 
constraint  upon  her ;  she  addressed  me,  when 
compelled  so  to  do,  in  such  a  doubting,  hesitating 
way  ;  her  manner  was  so  uncertain  and  equivo- 
cal, and  her  usually  cold  monosyllables  were  so 
reluctant  and  icy   when  I  wished  to  show  her 


DE    LISLE.  209 

attention,  that  I  determined  on  shortening  my 
visit  to  the  painter,  and,  as  the  ci vilest  way  of 
doing  so,  my  visit  to  Berlin  altogether. 

"  It  was  a  place  I  was  glad  to  have  seen, 
but  it  did  not  diminish  my  regret  at  quitting 
Dresden,  which,  as  a  residence,  was  infinitely  to 
be  preferred  ;  and  was  also  the  resort  of  stran- 
gers, on  account  of  the  gaiety  and  splendour  of 
the  Elector's  Court,  to  a  much  greater  degree 
than  Berlin,  even  whilst  its  celebrated  monarch 
lived. 

"  I  next  directed  my  steps  to  Hamburgh,  and 
though  the  length  of  the  journey,  and  its 
expense,  often  induced  repentance,  I  arrived 
at  last,  and  at  the  house  of  a  considerable 
merchant  was  received  with  a  decree  of 
kindness,  for  which  I  was  not  the  less  grate- 
ful for  having  some  claim  upon  his  atten- 
tion. Through  my  means  he  had  once  de- 
rived considerable  access  to  his  commercial  pros- 
perity ;  but  how  many  had  I  benefitted  who  had 
thought  themselves  exonerated  not  merely  from 
all  gratitude,  but  even  from  the  trouble  of  re- 
membering my  existence !  At  the  merchant's 
house  I  met  with  traders  from  various  nations  ; 
but,  my  curiosity  once  satisfied,  I  soon  found  as 
little  pleasure  in  their  company  as  they  did  in 
mine. 


210  DE    LISLE. 

"  A  young  Dutchman,  however,  had  viewed 
me  with  more  partiality  than  he  thought  fit  to 
betray  ;  and  kept  his  own  secret  so  well,  that  I 
should  certainly  as  soon  have  thought  of  his 
confessing  an  enthusiastic  admiration  for  Ho- 
mer as  for  me.  My  host  was  made  the  confi- 
dant, for  my  unsentimental  lover  was  timid  as 
well  as  cautious,  and  lived  in  dread  of  my  ridi- 
cule. 

"  '  He  is  wealthy,  good-humoured,  and  easily 
swayed, '  said  my  friend,  '  and  altogether  a 
person  I  recommend  to  you  ;  for,  though  living 
in  Holland  may  not  suit  your  lively  genius,  you 
may  bear  it  for  a  little  while,  and  easily  get  a 
pension  at  his  marriage,  which  will  prevent  the 
necessity  in  future  of  having  recourse  to  persons 
for  subsistence  you  neither  esteem  nor  like." 

"  I  don''t  know  why  this  arrangement    was 
more  odious  to  me  than  any  I  had  submitted  to 

since  the  death  of  the  Prince  of  Z ,  for  there 

was  not  much  to  object  to  in  the  Dutchman,  but 
I  certainly  had  a  presentiment  of  evil,  that  after 
events  sufficiently  justified.  My  purse  at  the 
time  was  much  too  low  to  allow  of  my  giving 
vent  to  any  of  the  repugnances  that  assailed  me, 
and,  accusing  myself  of  unpardonable  fastidious- 
ness, I  took  the  advice  of  my  friend,  and  ac- 


DE    LISLE.  211 

companied  the  foreigner  to  his  own  uninterest- 
ing country. 

"  The  Dutch  are  a  sober,  decorous  people, 
and  the  family  of  my  protector  were  peculiarly 
strict  in  their  notions.  I  soon  perceived  a 
change  in  his  cheerfulness,  and  readily  traced 
it  to  the  persecutions  he  suffered  on  my  account. 
Though  too  obstinate  to  give  me  up,  he  began 
to  hate  me,  as  the  cause  of  contention  with 
persons  from  whom  he  had  hitherto  met  with 
unmixed  kindness  and  approbation.  I  should 
have  settled  all  their  disputes  by  leaving  him, 
had  I  been  able ;  but  my  health  had  suffered 
much  from  the  sea  voyage,  during  which  we  had 
bad  weather,  and  worse  provisions.  Besides,  I 
had  no  money,  for  my  protector  was  more  ava- 
ricious than  I  could  have  supposed  possible  in 
one  so  young. 

"It  was  so  new  to  me  to  be  ill  and  weak, 
that  my  spirits  sank,  and  I  had  no  longer  ener- 
gy to  think  any  exertion  worth  while.  Nor 
were  my  evils  altogether  imaginary.  A  fever 
carried  off  my  German  maid,  after  a  short  ill- 
ness ;  and  as  she  had  lived  with  me  many  years, 
and  though  very  troublesome  in  her  temper, 
and  convinced  she  did  me  an  honour  to  serve  me, 
was  upon  the  whole  attached  to  me,  and  scru- 


212  DE    LISLE. 

pulously  honest,  my  loss  was  great.     What  in 
my  drooping  state  I  felt,  beyond  what  was  rea- 
sonable, as  I  saw  the  earth  close  on  the  only 
human  being  who  affected  to  care  for  me,  it  is 
idle  to  dwell  upon. 

"  It  was  said  that  her  fever  was  infectious ; 
but,  though  I  had  never  left  her  during  her 
illness,  it  respected  me.  The  conduct  of  my 
protector  through  the  whole  business  was  such 
as  to  add  bitterness  to  my  aversion.  I  was 
roused  by  his  heartless  selfishness  to  a  degree 
of  indignation  his  ill  usage  of  me  alone  had 
failed  to  inspire.  My  anger  alarmed  him,  and 
he  consented  to  give  me  money  to  convey  me 
to  Brussels. 

"  I  met  there  with  several  old  acquaintance, 
who  not  having  seen  me  since  the  days  of  my 

splendour,  in  the  lifetime  of  the  Prince  of  Z , 

were  not  a  little  shocked  at  again  meeting  me 
under  such  different  circumstances.  Their  com- 
passion gave  me  a  degree  of  pain  I  can  scarcely 
account  for,  but  it  would  have  availed  nothing 
to  have  shown  it ;  accordingly  I  affected  gaiety, 
and  complained  of  nothing  but  bodily  weakness, 
which  was  indeed  fast  leaving  me. 

"  I  had  not  been  many  months  at  Brussels, 
when  an   Englishman   was  introduced  to  me. 


DE    LISLE.  213 

whose  passion  for  gaming  was  a  vice,  but  not  a 
frenzy,  for  he  contrived  to  make  it  subservient 
to  his  design  of  enriching  himself.  Major  Wil- 
mot  was  neither  elegant,  graceful,  nor  romantic  ; 
but  he  was  nevertheless  popular  among  a  cer- 
tain set.  If  he  was  not  refined,  neither  was  he 
ignorant ;  though  not  highly  polished,  he  was 
not  without  a  military  air  and  look  of  distinc- 
tion, rie  told  a  good  story,  sang  a  good  song, 
and,  having  some  pretensions  to  comeliness  of 
form  and  feature,  contrived  to  make  his  way 
even  among  those  who  disapproved  of  his  ge- 
neral conduct. 

"  Supposing  him  to  be  occupied  solely  by 
the  most  engrossing  of  all  passions,  I  was  a 
good  deal  surprised  to  find  he  had  serious 
thoughts  of  offering  me  a  share  in  his  adven- 
tures, as  he  termed  it.  I  told  him  he  had  fixed 
on  a  bad  person,  as,  so  far  from  aiding  any  of 
his  designs  against  his  unwary  companions,  I 
would  not  answer  for  not  counteracting  them, 
whenever  they  seemed  to  me  unfair. 

"  '  I  not  only  ask  not  your  assistance,'  replied 
Major  Wilmot,  '  but  I  do  not  even  object  to 
your  rescuing  any  of  these  supposed  victims 
from  my  snares,  for,  in  truth,  I  lay  none.  I 
love  play — I  am   cool,  fortunate,  and   skilful. 


Sil4  DE    LISLE. 

and  therefore  I  do  most  frequently  win  ;  and  if 
I  did  not,  I  would  give  it  up.  I  wish  to  have 
a  pleasant  house  at  Spa ;  the  charm  of  your 
manners  and  conversation,  even  without  your 
superior  talents  and  accomplishments,  cannot 
fail  of  making  it  one.  This  arrangement  can- 
not last  beyond  the  season  at  Spa,  which  is  now 
scarcely  begun ;  so  you  will  hardly  have  time 
to  be  very  tired  of  my  company. 

"  The  tone  of  levity  with  which  this  was 
said,  was  somewhat  grating,  and  the  style  of 
thing  altogether  was  not  what  I  liked ;  but, 
making  a  virtue  of  necessity,  I  affected  more 
cheerfulness  than  I  felt,  and  acceded  to  the 
proposal.  Major  Wilmot  did  not  pretend  to 
be  in  love  with  me,  but  he  treated  me  with 
more  real  kindness  than  many  who  had  feigned 
a  more  passionate  attachment,  and  perhaps 
thought  that  they  felt  it. 

"  Our  pursuits  accorded  but  ill,  indeed ;  yet, 
as  his  interfered  not  with  me,  and  mine  were 
indulgently  attended  to,  I  had  no  cause  of  com- 
plaint. He  was  not  as  rich  as  many  whose 
fortunes  1  had  helped  to  dissipate,  but,  after  the 
Dutchman,  I  could  only  wonder  at  his  prodi- 
gality. He  had  it  much  at  heart  to  procure  for 
me  some  more  permanent  situation,  though  he 


*     DE    LISLE.  215 

assured  me  he  wished  to  retain  me  as  long  as  it 
suited  my  own  convenience :  but  I  was  aware 
that  this  was  little  more  than  civility,  and  was 
anxious  to  exonerate  him  from  an  expense  he 
could  so  ill  bear  when  his  Spa  resources  failed. 
I  had  soon  many  opportunities  of  changing  my 
temporary  abode ;  but  as  there  was  no  absolute 
necessity  for  me  to  decide  instantly,  I  gladly 
availed  myself  of  the  respite,  and  was  willing  to 
put  off  the  evil  day  as  long  as  possible. 

"  One  day  that  I  had  been  waiting  dinner 
with  many  of  Major  Wilmot's  friends  longer 
than  he  was  wont  to  keep  us,  he  returned,  ac- 
companied by  a  young  countryman  of  his  own, 
who  was  introduced  to  me  as  Mr.  De  Lisle. 
The  Englishman  bowed  in  silence,  and  almost 
immediately  drew  back.  I  was  little  disposed 
to  seek  out  a  youth,  who  either  from  dislike 
or  shyness  showed  a  desire  to  avoid  me;  and 
I  continued,  therefore,  my  attention  to  a 
Frenchman,  who  was  giving  me  an  account  of 
some  political  events  in  his  own  country,  which, 
being  interesting  to  him,  could  not  fail,  he 
thought,  of  being  equally  so  to  me. 

"  Meanwhile,  though  I  raised  not  my  eyes, 
I  saw  every  motion  of  my  new  guest,  who  had 
inspired  me  with  a  degree  of  curiosity  I  was 


216  DE     LISLE. 

not  very  apt  to  feel.  Nor  was  this  wonderful, 
for  Mr.  De  Lisle  was  not  a  person  to  overlook 
any  where,  and  standing  as  he  did  then,  in 
no  very  chosen  company,  he  looked  to  belong 
to  another  order  of  beings.  I  had  seen  many 
features  more  regular,  striking,  and  even  hand- 
some ;  I  had  seen  many  forms  more  magnifi- 
cent, and  even  more  graceful;  and  yet  I  had 
never  seen  any  one  who  excited  my  attention, 
or  commanded  my  respect,  in  the  same  degree. 

"  There  was  a  self-possession  in  his  very 
shyness,  a  steady  calmness  on  his  youthful  brow, 
a  simple  air  of  noble,  tranquil  dignity  about 
his  whole  person,  that  prevented  the  usual 
scrutiny  that  one  is  apt  to  make  of  every  stran- 
ger who  has  any  pretension  to  beauty.  Yet, 
as  his  quick  eye  glanced  over  the  motley  group, 
and  a  repressed  working  of  the  muscles  of  his 
mouth  showed  that  the  survey  was  unfavour- 
able, I  could  not  help  fancying  what  that 
countenance  would  be,  if  once  he  suffered  it 
to  represent  all  the  feelings  it  was  so  formed 
to  express. 

"  Some  one  addressed  him;  his  voice  sound- 
ed not  like  that  of  my  other  guests :  clear  and 
various  in  its  inflections,  it  seemed  subdued 
and  low,  only  because  he  would  not  take  the 


DE    LISLE.  217 

trouble  to  raise  it :  his  manner  was  haughty, 
yet  not  sufficiently  so  to  give  offence ;  and 
though  there  was  something  in  the  bend  of 
his  finely-formed  head  that  spoke  more  of  self- 
respect  than  consideration  for  others,  the  im- 
pression was  rather  that  he  was  indeed  superior 
to  them,  than  that  he  fancied  himself  so.  Upon 
the  whole,  I  was  not  so  much  charmed  with 
his  appearance,  as  disgusted,  in  consequence, 
with  that  of  others.  He  said  but  little  at 
dinner ;  he  even  most  frequently  seemed  not 
to  attend  to  what  was  going  on  around  him  ; 
and  yet  I  had  never  before  been  so  oppressed 
with  German  dulness,  or  so  provoked  by 
French  flippancy. 

"  It  was  singular  that  the  mere  presence  of  a 
youth,  who  deigned  not  to  interest  himself  in 
any  topic  of  conversation  that  was  started, 
should  hold  up  to  my  mind's  eye  a  glass,  in 
which  the  imperfections  of  the  whole  company, 
whether  of  taste  or  feeling,  were  so  glaringly 
displayed  ;  but  such  was  my  conviction  that  it 
must  all  be  intolerable  to  him,  that  I  suffered 
all  the  constraint  of  one  responsible  for  the 
ignorance,  or  inelegance,  exhibited  at  their 
table. 

"  I  withdrew  early,  for,  though  I  had  never 

VOL.    I.  L 


218  DE    LISLE. 

been  used  to  the  fashion,  I  found  it  was  Major 
Wilmot's ;  and  as  his  companions  often  drank 
deep,  I  was  as  well  pleased  to  be  out  of  the  way. 
There  was  to  be  a  public  ball  that  night,  but  I 
had  no  intention  of  going  to  it,  for  I  had  made 
no  party,  and  well  knew,  in  the  attractions  of 
play,  my  existence  would  speedily  be  forgotten 
by  Major  Wilmot  and  his  intimate  associates. 
In  my  distant  apartment,  the  voices  of  the 
revellers  scarcely  reached  me  ;  and  after  having 
read  till  overpowered  with  sleep,  I  was  pre- 
paring to  retire  for  the  night,  when  the  quick, 
heavy  step  of  Major  Wilmot  sounded  in  the 
passage.  As  he  entered,  I  saw  by  the  flashing 
of  his  eye,  and  the  ominous  colour  that  stained 
his  cheek,  that  he  was  better  at  home  than  in 
the  ball-room.  But,  though  elevated,  he  was 
not  confused,  as  I  soon  found  from  his  conver- 
sation. 

"  He  sought  me  to  speak  of  young  De  Lisle, 
and  to  urge  my  going  to  the  ball  for  the  chance 
of  meeting  him.  He  represented  him  as  a  per- 
son worth  my  attention,  both  from  his  situation 
and  disposition.  '  Young  as  he  is,'  continued 
Wilmot,  '  he  will  not  be  an  easy  prey  ;  but,  once 
caught,  you  may  retain  him  while  ye  list.  He 
has  hitherto  shown  no  great  predilection  for  the 


DE    LISLE.  219 

society  of  women,  partly  from  a  contempt  of 
their  abilities,  partly  from  a  distrust  of  their 
motives  in  showing  him  attention ;  for  his 
mother  has  convinced  him  he  is  a  good  match, 
and  therefore  he  wraps  around  him  the  mail  of 
proofs  otherwise  his  indolent  indifference,  and 
stalks  abroad  more  ready  to  bid  defiance  than 
to  conciliate  regard.  If  indeed  he  has  never 
loved,  it  is  all  in  your  favour.  The  first  fancy 
of  the  sort  will  be  to  him  a  serious  matter,  and 
will  overpower  all  his  caution,  natural  and  ac- 
quired.* 

"  Major  Wilmot  said  a  great  deal  more ; 
and  willing  to  follow  his  advice,  yet  half 
ashamed  of  plotting  against  a  boy,  I  went  to 
the  ball.  He  was  there ;  and  I  marked  on  his 
intelligent  countenance  a  shade  of  surprise  at 
ray  appearing  with  an  escort  so  little  likely  to 
protect  me.  This  at  once  showed  me  the  ro- 
mantic generosity  of  his  temper.  It  was  n 
vain  he  had  seen  me  the  mistress  of  Wilii  ot, 
he  had  not  suffered  his  imagination  to  take  in 
all  the  degradation  of  my  situation  ;  he  had  sup- 
posed I  must  have  too  much  taste  and  delicacy 
voluntarily  to  appear  in  public  with  half  in- 
toxicated companions. 

"  If  I  could  not  recover  this   unfavourable 

L  2 


220  DE    LISLE. 

step,  I  could  at  least  amuse  and  attract  the 
Englishman; — if  I  could  not  captivate  his  good 
opinion,  I  could  dazzle  a  sounder  understand- 
ing than  his — and  I  did  so;  but  what  availed 
it  ?  He  suffered  days  and  weeks  to  elapse, 
without  showing  any  inclination  to  cultivate 
my  acquaintance ;  he  discouraged  all  Major 
Wilmot's  advances ;  refused  all  his  invitations ; 
and  proved  that,  if  we  were  not  detected,  at 
least  we  were  despised.  Wilmot  was  piqued 
into  perseverance,  but  I  intreated  him  to  desist. 

"  '  If  he  seeks  me  of  his  own  accord,'  said  I, 
*  he  walks  into  the  net  with  his  eyes  open, 
and  I  may  fairly  close  it  round  him ;  but  I  will 
not  lay  plans  to  entrap  a  youth  who  has  quick* 
ness  enough  to  perceive  the  snare,  and  steadi- 
ness enough  to  avoid  it.  There  are  not  so  many 
such,  that  I  need  fear  my  generosity  will  ruin 
me.' 

"  Major  Wilmot  swore  my  scruples  were 
equally  absurd  and  ill-timed ;  but,  eager  about 
his  own  concerns,  he  willingly  abandoned  mine 
to  my  own  management.  Chance  favoured  me 
better  than  design  could  have  done.  I  met 
the  Englishman  at  a  poor  cottage,  wanting,  as 
it  would  seem,  only  an  excuse  to  himself  for 


DE    LISLE.  221 

again  seeing  me,  and  I  took  care  he  should  have 
plenty. 

"  The  more  I  saw  of  Hubert  De  Lisle,  the 
more  anxious  I  became  to  secure  my  conquest. 
I  had  never  before  been  ambitious  of  any  in- 
fluence but  that  which  talent  and  judgment 
will  always  give  over  the  minds  of  our  acquaint- 
ance ;  but,  in  fascinating  the  understanding  of 
the  young  Englishman,  I  found  I  did  but  half 
my  work.  He  had  a  heart  too — and  the  far- 
ther it  lay  removed  from  sight,  the  more  earnest 
I  became  to  penetrate  the  hidden  sanctuary 
and  rule  the  whole  man.  This  was  not  merely 
difficult,  but  to  me  exquisitely  painful.  Guess^ 
ing  his  feelings  was  so  often  condemning  my 
own !  The  more  excellence  I  discovered  in 
him,  the  more  I  shrank  from  myself;  and  often, 
when  he  has  thought  my  tears  a  tribute  to 
some  noble,  generous  feeling,  did  they  flow  in 
bitterness  over  a  degradation  that  never  before 
had  been  so  fully  revealed  to  me. 

''Formerly,  when  my  own  situation  had  struck 
me  as  peculiarly  humiliating,  I  felt  only  indig- 
nation and  abhorrence  of  the  treachery  and 
selfishness  that  had  placed  me  in  it ;  but  when 
I  listened  to  the  milder  sentiments  and  purer 


222  DE    LISLE. 

thoughts  of  De  Lisle,  I  saw  that  I  too  must 
have  been  to  blame ;  and  I  shrank  from  show- 
ing him  the  cold-hearted  levity  that  had  con- 
tributed its  aid  towards  fixing  me  in  my  de- 
plorable profession. 

''  I  had  never  before  paid  any  one  the  com- 
pliment of  affecting  to  be  what  I  was  not, 
though  I  had  indeed  often  confined  to  my  own 
bosom  what  I  felt  or  suffered.  But  I  could 
not  risk  my  influence  with  the  Englishman,  by 
showing  him  the  whole  of  a  character,  that,  be- 
side his  youthful,  generous  spirit,  almost  looked 
like  depravity.  One  side  only  could  I  venture 
to  unveil,  and  even  that  I  sought  to  render 
more  interesting  than  it  really  was.  This  con- 
straint was  at  times  fatiguing  and  unpleasant, 
yet  sometimes  it  did  me  good.  I  affected  sim- 
plicity, purity,  and  benevolence,  until  I  half 
persuaded  myself  that  I  really  was  what  it 
suited  me  to  appear. 

"  Tliese  illusions  were  amongst  the  sweetest 
of  my  life  ;  I  can  never  feel  them  again,  for  the 
imagination  can  captivate  but  once  in  this  way  : 
but  that  I  have  ever  known  the  charm  of  being 
earnestly  and  truly  loved,  and  that  for  some 
brief  moments  I  have  yielded  ,to  the  belief  that 
I  deserved  such  love,  are  blessings  I  owe  to 


DE    LISLE.  223 

Hubert  De  Lisle ;  and  when  I,  and  all  that  per- 
taineth  to  me,  no  longer  retain  a  trace  in  his 
memory,  he  will  live  in  mine  as  the  solitary  ray 
of  light  that  has  streaked  my  dark  and  troubled 
path. 

"  That  I  should  have  given  pain  to  one  to 
whom  I  owe  so  much ;  that  I,  who  have  en- 
deavoured to  benefit  so  many,  should  have  in- 
jured almost  the  only  being  who  would  not  have 
injured  me,  is  a  saddening  thought :  yet,  after 
all,  I  know  not  whether,  in  the  fair  balance  of 
pleasure  and  pain,  I  have  not  yielded  him  as 
much  of  the  former  as  of  the  latter.  When  I 
reflect,  that  in  my  whole  life  I  cannot  number 
even  hours  of  enjoyment,  unbroken  and  real, 
his  months  of  happiness  seem  to  me  of  sufficient 
force  to  outweigh  more  misery  than  my  deser- 
tion can  have  caused.  It  is  true,  that  felicity  is 
easily  forgotten,  while  it  is  the  property  of 
grief,  even  when  it  seems  extinct,  to  dull  like  a 
flying  cloud  our  brightest  sunshine.  When  I 
accompanied  my  lover  to  England,  a  new  pros- 
pect presented  itself  to  me.  The  chance  of  a 
separation  seemed  so  painful  to  him,  that  I, 
who  could  read  every  thought  that  glanced 
across  his  noble  brow,  saw  how  easy  it  would 
be  for  me  to  join  my  fate  to  his  for  ever.    Little 


224  DE    LISLE. 

acquainted  with  the  manners  and  customs  of 
England,  I  had  only  gathered  from  books  that 
people  married  much  as  they  liked,  and  that 
few  things  were  reckoned  a  niisalUance, 

'*  I  was  unknown  in  his  country ;  I  knew  I 
could  assimilate  my  manners  to  those  with  whom 
I  lived,  even  should  my  natural  ones  be  thought 
too  foreign.  I  was  considerably  older,  indeed, 
than  De  Lisle,  and  nearly  penniless :  but  he 
was  an  only  son  ;  his  parents  loved  him  ;  his 
own  fortune  was  ample ;  and  I,  who  had  fasci- 
nated so  many,  without  desiring  to  do  so,  could 
surely  effect  it,  when  I  should  have  it  so  much 
at  heart. 

"  These  thoughts  gave  me  many  an  anxious 
hour.  I  ardently  wished  to  be  received  into 
respectable  society  ;  to  have  some  exercise  for 
those  social  and  natural  affections,  that  are  im- 
planted in  every  human  breast.  If  I  was  passion- 
less, I  was  not  utterly  heartless.  I  never  could 
love  Hubert  as  he  loved  me ;  but  I  could  and 
did  love  him  enough  not  to  neglect  any  means 
of  contributing  to  his  happiness,  even  to  the 
feicjning  sentiments  that  I  was  unable  to  feel. 
As  far  as  I  myself  was  concerned,  the  bright 
side  was  indeed  uppermost ;  but  when  I  thought 
of  my  lover,  the  picture  darkened.     He  was 


D£    LISLE.  2^5 

Still  very  young,  and  might  not  know  how  un- 
wise such  a  union  would  be  for  him.  If  he 
discovered  it  when  too  late! — if  he  should 
doubt  my  affection,  or  my  conduct,  how  should 
I  exculpate  myself?  There  was  a  shade  of 
distrust  already  in  his  character,  struggling 
with  his  nobler  self ;  my  previous  story,  little 
as  I  ever  meant  him  to  know  of  it,  could  not 
but  increase  the  propensity.  And  if  chance 
betrayed  any  part  of  it  to  the  circle  in  which 
he  moved,  how  could  his  high  spirit  brook  the 
disgrace ! 

"  I  saw  but  too  plainly  that  it  was  scarcely 
possible  but  that  he  must  repent  most  bitterly 
so  rash  a  step.  I  had  not  the  magnanimity  to 
give  up  the  certain  advantages  that  would  ac- 
crue to  me,  in  favour  of  the  chance  of  discom- 
fort to  him ;  but  I  came  to  a  compromise  with  my 
conscience  on  no  account  to  accelerate  the  event. 
I  affected  not  to  understand  his  words,  not  to 
read  his  looks,  eloquent  as  they  were.  I  spoke 
of  his  family  and  occupations,  as  things  that 
must  occasionally  separate  us.  I  adverted  to 
my  own  employments  in  his  absence,  and  to 
the  joy  of  his  return,  when  I  saw  that  absence 
weighed  upon  his  spirits. 

"  He  procured  a  cheerful  house  for  me  when 


226  DE    LISLE. 

we  reached  London, — at  least  as  nearly  ap- 
proaching to  cheerful  as  any  thing  in  that  gloomy, 
dusky  capital  could  well  be, — and  left  me,  as  1 
plainly  saw,  with  the  firm  intention  of  giving 
me  his  name,  as  soon  as  the  laws  would  permit 
his  disposing  of  his  own.  I  passed  the  period 
of  his  absence  most  unpleasantly.  I  was  on  the 
eve  of  a  solemn  engagement  which  might  con- 
demn an  amiable  and  highly-gifted  young  man, 
in  whose  welfare  I  felt  a  very  true  interest,  to 
endless  regrets.  Could  I  ever  be  received  with 
real  cordiality  by  a  family  whose  hopes  I  blast- 
ed ?  This  was  doubtful — it  soon  ceased  to  be 
so.  I  received  a  letter  from  Lady  De  Lisle,  the 
mother  of  Hubert,  which  at  once  tore  the  veil 
from  my  eyes. 

"  This  lady  must  have  been  born  for  intrigue, 
so  much  did  she  seem  to  be  in  her  element  while 
inditing  this  curious  but  convincing  epistle.  She 
knew,  either  by  intuition  or  secret  communica- 
tions, all  her  son's  proceedings  and  thoughts ;  and 
her  object  was  to  show,  that,  by  yielding  to  his 
plan,  I  should  be  as  far  from  happy  as  himself.  I 
saw  I  was  mistaken  in  the  idea  that  had  seduced 
me,  of  the  facility  with  which  I  should  gain  a 
proper  footing  in  society  ; — more  particularly, 
when  utterly  unsupported  by  any  of  my  bus- 


DE    LISLE.  227 

band^s  relations.  I  relinquished  tha  illusion 
with  tears,  but  without  hesitation ;  and  sent  my 
unknown  correspondent  the  following  answer  to 
a  letter  of  as  many  pages  nearly  as  mine  con- 
tained words. 

''  ^  Madame  de  Lausanne  does  not  thank 
Lady  De  Lisle  for  her  communication,  aware 
that  its  object  was  not  to  benefit  her.  This  is 
merely  to  notify  her  intention  of  being  guided 
by  it,  in  so  far  as  withdrawing  herself  from  a 
country  where  her  longer  residence  would  in- 
volve a  whole  family  in  dissension  and  discom- 
fort. Lady  De  Lisle  could  not  have  been  serious 
in  her  offer  of  money  to  Therese  de  Lausanne, 
knowing,  as  she  well  must,  the  munificent  spirit 
of  her  son.  To  that  son,  and  not  to  his  mother, 
application  would  be  made,  if  necessary  •  it  is 
not  so, — and  Madame  de  Lausanne  would  only 
suggest  the  precaution  to  Lady  De  Lisle,  of  not 
incurring  needless  indignation  from  Mr.  De 
Lisle,  by  alluding  to  a  separation,  which  he  need 
never  know  was  effected  by  her  means.' 

"In  thus  seeming  to  spare  the  feelings  of  a 
lady,  who  could  be  nothing  to  me,  I  was,  in  fact, 
only  guarding  her  son  from  additional  vexation. 


228  DE    LISLE. 

He  was  of  the  age  to  be  jealous  of  all  controul, 
particularly  maternal  controul.  I  knew  that,  in 
the  first  transports  of  his  ire,  a  serious  quarrel 
must  take  place  between  him  and  Lady  De  Lisle, 
for  having  so  effectually  interfered  in  his  plans. 
I  did  not  wish  to  leave  a  firebrand  behind  me, 
and  disunite  his  family  nearly  as  much  by  my 
departure  as  by  my  marriage.  That  departure 
was  indispensable ;  for,  just  then  I  was  av/are 
he  would  have  braved  the  anger  of  every  living 
creature  to  make  me  unalterably  his.  I  have 
an  antipathy  to  scenes  of  every  sort :  I  saw 
they  would  be  endless.  His  love,  once  so  joyous 
and  tender,  would  necessarily  become  gloomy 
and  irritable.  He  would  be  unhappy  and  un- 
reasonable ;  and  I  should  have  the  less  patience 
with  him,  from  being  myself  free  from  the  pas- 
sion that  overpowered  him. 

"  '  I  will  go  at  once/  thought  I ;  '  the  pang 
may  be  sudden  and  severe  to  him,  but  it  is  not 
a  mind  like  his  that  can  continue  to  cling  to  an 
unworthy  object.  My  apparent  treachery  will 
free  him  at  once,  and  will  steel  against  the  pas- 
sion in  future  a  heart  well  nigh  as  sensitive  as 
it  is  proud.*  When  I  remembered  how  unpre- 
pared he  was  for  such  a  blow,  I  could  have  wept ; 
but  what  availed  it,  I  knew  not  how  to  soften  it  ? 


DE    LISLE.  229 

"  The  day  before  my  departure,  a  friend  of 
Mr.  De  Lisle's  called  upon  me.  I  was  occupied 
and  dull,  and  had  given  orders  to  admit  no  one  ; 
but  as  I  caught  a  glimpse  of  Lionel  Seymour 
crossing  the  street,  I  rang  to  desire  he  might  be 
admitted.  It  was  not,  assuredly, for  his  own  sake 
that  I  gave  the  direction ;  for,  if  ever  I  feared 
a  living  being,  that  being  was  the  cold,  upright, 
and  severe  Seymour.  I  knew  that  he  yielded  to 
his  friend's  wish  of  cultivating  my  acquaintance, 
solely  with  a  view  of  detaching  him  from  me  if 
possible ;  that  there  was  nothing  he  would  not 
do  to  prevent  his  marrying  me ;  and,  in  short, 
that  no  man  I  had  ever  been  the  least  willing  to 
please,  had  ever  beheld  me  with  so  little  emo- 
tion. I  well  knew  that,  compared  to  mine,  his 
influence  with  Hubert  was  as  nothing  ;  but  if  he 
failed  to  restrain  his  friend,  he  was  not  the  less 
a  decided  check  on  me.  I  felt  always  before 
him  as  if  in  the  presence  of  a  judge,  and  that 
no  favourable  one.  I  sometimes  durst  not 
finish  my  phrase,  fearful  of  the  construction  he 
might  put  upon  it.  I  shrank  even  from  the  af- 
fectionate looks  or  words  of  my  lover,  when  Lio- 
nePs  steady  glance  turned  compassionately  upon 
him,  or  scornfully  upon  me :  I  sought  to  conci- 
liate him ;  it  would  not  be.     I  seemed  always 


230  DE    LISLE. 

to  come  in  contact  with  a  wall  of  cold  iron.  I 
sought  to  anger  him — it  was  equally  impossible. 
He  smiled,  with  his  unalterable  look  of  calm  in- 
dulgence, and  seemed  quite  ready  to  make  al- 
lowances for  my  just  dislike  of  his  intractable 
temper. 

"  Once  determined  to  leave  England,  I  was 
able  and  willing  to  cast  off  all  the  prejudices  I 
might  have  acquired  in  it.  I  saw  no  longer  in 
Seymour  my  own  enemy,  but  the  friend  and 
consoler  of  De  Lisle.  I  thought  he  would  an- 
nounce the  step  I  was  about  to  take  in  the  gen- 
tlest possible  manner.  For  a  moment,  I  hesi- 
tated whether  to  show  him  the  letter  which  had 
decided  my  fate.  I  should  have  liked  to  excite 
in  the  breast  of  Seymour  some  little  feeling  for 
me,  as  well  as  for  his  friend.  I  might  very 
easily  have  said  that  I  was  unhappy,  for  it  was 
the  truth  ;  I  might  have  said  I  gave  up  De 
Lisle  for  his  own  good,  for  that  too  was  partly 
the  truth.  In  short,  I  had  in  my  hands  the 
materials  for  a  most  affecting  parting,  and  I 
sliould  have  been  pitied,  almost  admired,  by  one 
capable  of  appreciating  the  merit  of  any  sacri- 
fice— of  any  thing  generous  and  disinterested. 

"  I  resisted  the  temptation,  because  I  did 
not  quite  understand  Lionel's  notions  of  duty 


DR    LISLE.  231 

and  principle.  In  some  things  he  was  so  gentle, 
in  some  so  stern ;  placable  about  man's  actions, 
yet  rigidly  scrupulous  about  his  motives  ;  which, 
after  all,  are  often  obscure,  even  to  the  actor 
himself.  I  never  could  be  quite  certain  of  what 
he  might  do.  He  might  have  thought  it  but 
justice  to  me  to  inform  Hubert  of  my  reason 
for  leaving  him,  and  as  surely  as  he  had  done 
so,  should  I  have  seen  him  at  my  carriage-door 
on  alighting  at  Paris.  This  could  have  answer- 
ed no  purpose.  I  received  Seymour,  therefore, 
as  I  was  wont,  apologised  for  the  confusion  of 
my  house,  and  gave  its  true  reason,  my  sudden 
departure  with  M.  de  le  Sablonniere,  with  whom 
I  was  very  well  acquainted,  and  who  occupied 
with  his  diplomatic  commissions,  and  his  own 
perfections,  was  just  the  person  to  suit  me  at 
that  moment,  by  paying  me  no  sort  of  attention. 
This,  however,  I  did  not  say  to  my  visitor,  who 
naturally  concluded  the  coxcomb  had  found 
favour  in  my  sight,  and  that  for  him  I  gave  up 
De  Lisle.  His  dark  eye  kindled  as  I  spoke ; 
there  was  some  indignation  at  my  levity,  but 
more  joy  at  his  friend's  escape. 

"  He  made  no  comment,  he  asked  no  expla- 
nation, he  seemed  anxious  for  nothing  but  to 
see  me  off.     He  mentioned  casually  his  own  in- 


DE    LISLE. 

tentioii  of  going  to  Oxford  the  following  day 
to  see  Hubert,  who  could  now  have  no  reason 
for  coming  to  town.  This  was  what  I  wanted ; 
but  to  say  so  would  have  sounded  like  affec- 
tation in  the  ears  of  my  visitor.  I  therefore 
only  bowed,  and  coldly  observed,  he  would  soon 
be  engrossed  by  the  rejoicings  for  his  birth- 
day. 

"  '  I  shall  rejoice  in  truth,'  said  Seymour  em- 
phatically, '  but  I  am  not  so  unreasonable  as  to 
expect  that  of  him  just  yet."* 

" '  I  doubt  not,'  replied  I  haughtily,  '  that 
you  will  soon  teach  him  to  be  as  well  pleased 
as  yourself;'  and  thus  ended  an  interview,  the 
only  one  Seymour  ever  had  with  me  which 
could  be  said  to  give  him  pleasure. 

"  At  Paris  I  quitted  my  companion,  and 
wrote  to  my  old  friend  the  Intendant  for  a  sup- 
ply of  money,  he  having  in  his  hands  more  than 
was  wanted  for  my  niece.  He  complied  with 
the  request,  which  gave  me  more  pleasure  than 
the  rest  of  his  letter.  The  lovely  and  attrac- 
tive Leontine  was  dead — the  widower  was  on 
the  eve  of  another  engagement.  By  some  ex- 
pressions, I  guessed  that  ambition  dictated  this 
second  marriage,  for  he  dwelt  on  the  advan- 


DE    LISLE.  233 

tages  his  family  would   derive  from  the   new 
connexion. 

"  These  arrangements  included  not  my  niece. 
*  My  eldest  daughter,'  wrote  Charles,  *  is  affi- 
anced to  my  satisfaction ;  my  second  has  delicate 
health,  and  will  probably  live  much  with  her  aunt, 
who  leads  a  quieter  life  than  we  propose  doing. 
My  young  ward,  thus  deprived  of  her  compa- 
nions, and  not  in  a  situation  to  be  taken  more 
into  public  than  is  necessary,  ought  now  to  be 
placed  elsewhere.  I  will,  if  you  desire  it,  seek 
out  for  her  some  more  retired  situation,  or  you 
yourself  may  possibly  be  living  alone  at  present, 
and  desirous  therefore  of  a  gentle  and  cheer- 
ful companion.' 

"  When  I  read  this,  I  could  not  help  feeling 
how  much  of  the  disposition  of  man  depends, 
in  the  middling  walk  of  life  at  least,  upon  their 
wives.  Had  Leontine  lived,  never  would  Charles 
have  thought  with  pleasure  of  the  dispersion  of 
his  family ;  never  would  he  have  proposed  risk- 
ing the  morals,  comfort,  and  respectability  of 
the  child  he  had  educated,  by  turning  her  over 
to  me.  What  to  do  with  the  poor  girl  I  could 
not  guess.  To  send  her  to  some  stranger,  at 
the   discretion  of  a  person  who  was   evidently 


234  DE    LISLE. 

willing  to  get  rid  of  her  himself,  seemed  savage; 
I  determined  upon  seeing  Charles  myself.  It 
was  just  possible  that  the  married  daughter 
would  admit  beneath  her  roof,  for  the  ordinary 
stipend,  the  companion  of  her  childhood.  To 
be  sure,  there  was  a  husband  to  be  consulted; 
and  he  might  be  unaccommodating,  or  his  wife 
might  be  jealous. 

"  I  could  know  nothing  where  I  was,  so  I 
set  oiF  without  delay  for  the  house  of  the  In- 
tendant.  My  arrival  caused  some  surprise. 
Charles  received  me  alone,  apologized  for  the 
absence  of  his  wife,  who  was  paying  visits ;  the 
carriage  drove  to  the  door  shortly  after,  but  the 
lady  did  not  think  fit  to  make  her  appearance. 
The  Intendant  seemed  considerably  embarrassed 
between  the  sober  manner  that  became  a  widow- 
er, and  the  gay  one  that  belonged  to  a  bride- 
groom. -His  marriage,  indeed,  had  altered  him 
much,  or  else  his  fortune,  for  he  had  grown  a 
rich  man  since  I  had  seen  him  last.  My  niece 
was  walking,  and  he  proposed  our  joining  her, 
or  at  least  seeking  her.  I  complied,  and  on  our 
way  asked  all  the  questions  I  thought  necessary, 
but  Charles  was  either  unable  or  unwilUng  to 
assist  me. 

"  We  soon  encountered  the  children,  as  he 


DE    LISLE.  235 

called  them,  though  the  three  girls  that  headed 
the  group  would  probably  have  denied  their 
claim  to  the  epithet.  Owing  to  a  turn  in  the 
road,  they  were  visible  to  us  before  we  were 
ourselves  perceived.  A  very  cheerful  voice 
arose  above  the  others,  evidently  reproaching 
one  of  them  with  laziness. 

"  '  We  have  all  performed  our  task,'  it  said, 
'  and  you  alone,  Leontine,  are  idle :  come, 
give  us  some  verses  ;  you  can  remember  plenty, 
if  you  choose.' 

"  A  low  but  clear  tone  now  struck  on  our 
ears,  reciting  the  well-known  canzonet  begin- 
ning— 

Ecco  quel  fiero  istante  ; 
Nice,  mia  Nice,  addio. 
Come  vivro,  ben  mio, 
Cosi  lontan  da  te  ? 

lo  vivro  sempre  in  pene  j 

lo  non  avio  piu  bene  j 
E  tu,  chi  sa  se  mai 
Ti  sovverrai  di  me  ! 

"  I  had  pressed  the  arm  of  my  companion 
to  arrest  his  progress,  willing  to  listen  to  a  re- 
citation in  itself  beautiful,  but  which  possessed 
also  a  double  charm  to  my  ear,  from  the  mourn- 
ful tenderness  of  the  voice,  that  seemed  thus 


236  DE    LISLE. 

to  appropriate  to  itself  the  sentiments  of  the 
poet.  It  had  scarcely  concluded,  when  one  of 
the  children  detected  us  in  our  ambush.  We 
came  forward,  and  Agnes  was  presented  to  me. 
She  was  a  fine  girl,  with  eyes  of  the  most  se- 
rene blue,  and  a  pale  cheek,  that  grew  paler 
as  she  heard  my  name.  The  animated  coun- 
tenance, too,  of  the  bride  elect  underwent  a 
change  resembhng  sorrow,  for  they  were  aware 
my  appearance  was  the  signal  of  separation. 

"  It  was,  however,  the  young  Leontine  who 
most  attracted  my  attention.  I  said  something 
in  praise  of  her  pronunciation  of  the  Italian 
and  her  feeling  manner.  She  bowed  at  the  be- 
ginning of  my  compliment,  and,  blushing  at  the 
end,  averted  her  head  in  silence.  She  was  like 
her  mother,  though  less  peculiar  in  her  air  and 
manner.  The  description  of  the  English  poet 
was  made  for  her : — 

'  Her  dark  eye  had  misfortune's  doubtful  presage ; 
It  had  that  troubled  melancholy  loveliness — 
'Twas  like  the  fabled  flower  of  woe,  that  lines 
Of  sorrow  in  its  cup  of  beauty  bears.' 

"  Her  elder  sister  now  approached  me,  with 
an  earnest  request  that  I  would  not  take  Agnes 
away  till  after  her  marriage,  which  was  to  take 


DE    LISLE.  237 

place  in  a  few  days.  I  was  looking  at  Leon- 
tine  at  the  moment,  and  could  not  but  be 
struck  at  the  alteration  her  features  underwent. 
As  if  aware  of  this,  with  a  sudden  and  tre- 
mulous motion  she  drew  her  veil  over  her 
face  to  shade  its  ghastly  hue,  and  leaned  for  a 
moment  against  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  near  which 
we  stood.  I  readily  complied  with  the  request 
made  me,  and  received  the  thanks  of  the  whole 
party,  for  the  sudden  departure  of  Agnes  had 
revived  the  affection  of  the  Intendant  himself. 

"  We  were  met  at  the  garden-gate  b}'^  his 
future  son-in-law,  a  fine,  manly-looking  youth, 
who  greeted  the  whole  party  with  frank  cor- 
diality. Leontine  spoke  to  him  as  well  as  the 
others,  but  she  kept  her  veil  carefully  down ; 
and  it  was  surprising  to  me  that  no  one  marked 
the  forced  gaiety  of  her  manner.  We  came  in  ; 
and  while  I  was  waiting  for  my  carriage,  I  had 
the  opportunity  of  observing  her  still  more  nar- 
rowly. Charles  had  left  the  room  to  order 
some  refreshment  for  me.  Agnes  was  half 
kneeling  at  a  little  table,  and  scribbling  some- 
thing with  a  pencil.  The  lovers  were  convers- 
ing at  an  open  window,  turning  their  back  to 
the  room  and  its  inmates ;  and  Leontine,  at 
some  distance,  leaning  against  a  stand  of  books. 


238  DE    LISLE. 

was  regarding  them  as  earnestly  as  the  fasci- 
nated gaze  of  superstition  may  be  supposed 
fixed  on  some  preternatural  appearance.  I  shall 
never  forget  her  countenance  ;  for  despair  is 
dreadful  on  so  young  a  face. 

"  As   I  got  into  my  carriage,  Agnes  timidly 
presented  me  with  the  note  she  had  been  writ- 
ing.    The  lovers,  it  seems,  were  to  remain  ten 
days  in  the  Intendant's  house,  and  then   to  re- 
side for  a  year,  at  least,   with  the  father  and 
mother  of  the  bridegroom,  on  account  of  the 
youth  of  the  parties.     These  ten  days  Agnes 
seemed  anxious  to   spare  Leontine,  and  had  I 
not  guessed  at  the  feelings  of  her  young  com- 
panion, I  should  have  comprehended  but  little 
what  the  confused  note  of  Agnes  tended  to. 
As  it  was,  I  willingly  followed  the  directions  of 
my  niece.     I  proposed   to  the   Intendant,  that, 
immediately   after    the    marriage,  my  carriage 
should  convey  Agnes  and  Leontine  to  the  aunt 
of  the  latter,  who  had  expressed  a  wish  to  see 
both  the  girls  before  Agnes  quitted  a  family 
she  had  nearly  considered  as  her  own. 

"  For  myself,  I  took  up  my  abode  for  a 
month  at  some  hot  baths  at  no  great  distance, 
and  had  leisure  to  think  of  what  I  was  to  do 
with  my  niece.     Economy  was  to  be  the  order 


DE    LISLE.  239 

of  the  day,  for  I  resolutely  determined  not  to 
expose  Agnes  to  danger  by  mixing  with  my 
former  acquaintance.  I  would  willingly  have 
placed  her  with  some  respectable  person,  as  I  well 
knew  the  mere  act  of  living  with  me,  however 
quietly,  could  not  but  prejudice  others  against 
her ;  but  I  could  hear  of  no  one  who  would 
receive  her  ;  so,  having  no  alternative,  I  made 
no  complaints,  but  simply  explained  to  Agnes 
that  we  must  be  contented  to  live  upon  little. 

"  I  sold  my  equipage  and  horses,  dismissed 
most  of  my  servants,  and  laboured  to  keep 
within  the  narrow  income  I  could  call  mine ; 
the  greater  part  of  which  was,  in  fact,  settled 
on  Agnes,  and  had  accumulated  under  the  ma.- 
nagement  of  the  Intendant.  Accustomed  to 
profusion,  and  looking  upon  the  sacrifice  of 
luxuries  I  had  deemed  necessaries,  as  a  most 
serious  evil,  my  spirits  did  not  rise  with  my 
novel  situation.  My  time,  indeed,  did  not  hang 
upon  my  hands,  for  I  not  only  assisted  Agnes 
in  household  work,  at  which  she  was  mucli  the 
more  expert  of  the  two,  but  laboured  to  culti- 
vate her  talents,  which  had  not  been  entirely 
neglected  by  the  late  wife  of  the  Intendant. 
She  was  docile,  attentive,  and  observed  all  the 
ceremonial  of  respect ;  but  she  was  too  young 


240  DE    LISLE. 

to  disguise  that  she  thought  her  relationship  to 
me  a  misfortune.  Thus,  at  the  moment  that  I 
was  denying  myself  every  convenience  and  com- 
fort that  I  could  so  easily  have  procured,  mere- 
ly that  I  might  not  risk  injuring  her,  she  was 
regretting  the  chance  that  threw  us  together. 

"  It  is  thus  that  my  unfortunate  situation 
deprives  me  of  the  advantages  that  would  seem 
my  due :  it  is  thus  that  the  most  amiable  and 
generous  beings  deny  me  the  gratitude  I  de- 
serve at  their  hands.  I  had  not  long  to  lead 
this  life  of  voluntary  privation.  Agnes  an- 
nounced to  me  with  sparkling  eyes — the  first 
time  I  had  ever  seen  them  sparkle — an  invitation 
from  the  aunt  of  Leontine.  This  woman  was 
a  widow,  possessed  of  considerable  property, 
who  never  having  recovered  the  death  of  her 
husband,  had  ever  since  led  a  life  of  seclusion. 

"  Alarmed  now  for  the  health  of  her  niece^ 
she  determined  on  removing  to  a  more  cheerful 
residence,  and  offered  a  home  to  Agnes,  who 
would,  she  doubted  not,  prove  a  useful  and 
welcome  companion  to  the  invalid.  Our  joy  at 
the  prospect  of  parting  was  mutual,  and  we  be- 
came quite  affectionate  in  consequence.  As  the 
allowance  I  made  Agnes  diminished  yet  more 
my  small  pittance,  I  could  not  continue  even 


DE    LISLE.  S41 

in  the  lowly  mansion  we  inhabited  together, 
and  gladly  did  I  agree  to  make  one  in  the  ex- 
travagant establishment  of  Baron  Werner. 

"  This  young  man,  rising  early  to  follow  the 
chase,  and  spending  the  evening  with  his  jovial 
fellow-sportsmen,  does  not  of  course  give  me 
much  of  his  society ;  hut  of  this  1  am  not  dis- 
posed to  complain.  Caring  himself  little  for 
women,  he  likes  to  have  it  thought  that  he  is  a 
particular  favourite  with  them ;  and  next  to  his 
pride  at  possessing  the  most  ancient  castle  in 
the  south  of  Germany,  and  the  finest  dogs  and 
horses,  is  the  satisfaction  with  which  he  talks 
of  having  prevailed  on  the  celebrated  mistress 

of  the  Prince  of  Z to  share  the  country 

life  that  it  suits  him  to  lead.  For  this  seclu- 
sion I  have  been  handsomely  rewarded  by  a 
settlement,  that,  at  the  rate  Werner  lives,  will 
soon  be  the  only  ready  money  at  his  disposal. 

"  An  incident  in  the  domestic  affairs  of  the 
intendant,  has  most  unluckily  retarded  the  mo- 
ment of  Agnes's  departure.  I  have  been  obliged 
most  reluctantly  to  bring  her  here,  but  it  is  un- 
known to  Werner,  and  she  herself  is  altogether 
ignorant  of  the  terms  on  which  T  inhabit  this 
castle.  Nevertheless,  I  suffer  the  most  acute 
anxiety  on  her  account,  which  can  only  be  to- 

VOL.    I.  M 


242  DE   LISLE. 

tally  removed  when  she  is  safely  settled  with  her 
old  friends. 

'*  My  unpleasant  meditations  have  not  been 
enlivened  by  a  most  unexpected  interview  with 
Hubert  de  Lisle — the  only  being,  besides  Agnes, 
to  whose  weal  or  woe  I  cannot  be  indifferent — 
the  only  one,  without  exception,  who  never 
gave  me  pain  voluntarily — the  only  one  I  ever 
grieved — and,  assuredly,  the  only  one  I  should 
shrink  from  seeing. 

"  I  have  hastily  finished  this  narrative  for  his 
perusal.  It  was  begun  merely  ^o  pass  away 
the  time,  and,  having  been  intended  for  no  hu- 
man eye,  is  true  as  a  confession  to  the  Deity. 

''  I  expect  two  things  will  be  gained  by  send- 
ing this  to  Hubert.  In  the  first  place,  should 
any  regret  yet  linger  in  his  breast,  he  will 
learn  gratitude  to  Providence  for  having  saved 
him  from  a  union  so  replete  with  misery  and 
mortification,  as  ours  would  have  been  to  him. 
It  may  increase  his  general  distrust  ;  but  it 
ought  not,  for,  in  truth,  it  should  but  teach 
him  consistency.  While  he  remembers  that 
the  actions  of  men  should  fairly  be  taken  as 
the  proof  of  their  sentiments,  he  will  not  yield 
to  the  romance  of  bestowing,  on  those  whose 
conduct  is  faulty,  the  pure  and  .noble  feelings 


DE    LISLE.  243 

that  actuate  him.  Still  less  should  he  suspect 
those  who  have  secured  the  approbation  of  the 
world,  of  harbouring  the  thoughts  to  which 
they  would  not  give  utterance. 

"  Nor  is  this  all : — we  have,  I  fear,  always 
a  selfish  motive  clinging  to  the  strongest  and 
ostensible  one.  While,  with  one  hand,  I  sink 
myself  in  your  esteem  by  tearing  the  veil  from 
my  past  life,  with  the  other  I  point  to  your 
mother's  letter,  which  will  justify  a  measure 
that,  long  ere  you  have  read  thus  far,  you 
doubtless  rejoice  in  ;  a  measure  for  which  you 
have  both  hated  and  despised  me,  and  which 
now  you  will  see  in  its  true  light. 

''  Alas !  that  /should  say  and  you  should  believe, 
that  I  never  showed  you  greater  kindness  than 
when  I  fled  from  you  !  Hubert !  I  well  know 
you  pardon  my  desertion  ;  but  do  you  also  par- 
don me  for  having  taught  you  to  love,  and  de- 
stroyed the  bright  enchantment  almost  in  the 
hour  that  formed  it  ?  Alas  !  you  will  trust 
no  one  as  you  have  trusted  me — but  do  not  say 
it  is  my  fault !     Adieu  ! 

"  Therese  de  Lausanne." 


M  2 


244?  DE    LISLE. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

De  Lisle  did  not  read  through  the  nar- 
rative of  Madame  de  Lausanne  without  several 
interruptions.  It  was  written  with  far  less 
than  her  usual  talent.  It  seemed  as  if  reflec- 
tions on  the  artificial  character  that  her  evil 
destiny  had  forced  on  her,  had  for  the  moment 
stupified  her  genius,  palsied  her  energies,  and 
robbed  her  ahogether  of  that  touching  charm 
produced  by  the  union  of  high  mental  endow- 
ment with  a  manner  the  most  bland  and  cour- 
teous, and  a  temper  of  feminine  gentleness. 

Those  who  have  seen  a  noble  warrior  at  the 
head  of  his  conquering  army,  in  the  moment  of 
splendour,  and  been  one  of  the  crowd  to  do  him 
homage ;  and  those  who  have  beheld  him  only 
when  the  glorious  pageant  had  passed  away, 
and  casting  off  the  hero,  he  appeared  among 
them  the  froward,  frivolous,  and  selfish  man ; 


DE    LISLE.  245 

may  guess  at  the  various  feelings  with  which 
Hubert  beheld  the  idol  he  had  fondly  worship- 
ed, stripped  of  its  gaudy  trappings,  and  returned 
not  to  a  mere  mortal  only,  but  to  one  less  ad- 
mirable, and  infinitely  less  pure,  than  hundreds 
he  had  passed  by  in  utter  disregard. 

It  was  true  that  these  thoughts,  while  they 
depressed  him,  could  not  be  said  to  give  him 
any  acute  pain.  Although  the  real  disposition 
of  Therese  was  now  for  the  first  time  unveiled 
to  him,  he  had  long  ceased  to  love  her.  He 
had  felt  the  passion  with  the  earnestness  and 
devotion  of  his  age :  he  had  reaped  from  it 
both  pain  and  pleasure,  and  both  v/ere  now 
sentenced  to  oblivion.  There  are  many  with 
whom  it  is  as  the  arrow  shooting  through  the 
air,  that  leaves  no  trace  behind ;  but  Hubert, 
of  a  calm  and  reflective  cast,  was  not  suscepti- 
ble of  very  various  and  multiplied  emotions. 

Things  found  not  an  easy  access  to  his  heart 
or  imagination,  and,  once  there,  had  difficulty 
in  relinquishing  their  conquests.  Thus,  in  ceas- 
ing to  care  for  Madame  de  Lausanne,  in  choos- 
ing to  banish  every  thought  connected  with  her, 
he  did  not  see  that  some  associations  were  re- 
tained, some  feelings  could  not  be  obliterated, 
although  they  eluded  even  his  own  observation. 


246 


DE    LISLE. 


Nor  were  these  favourable  to  any  improvement 
of  his    own   disposition,    that   ripening  reason 
might  have  suggested.     His  affections  had  re- 
ceived a  chill  they  could  not  for  some  time  re- 
cover :  but  this  was  not  all,  the  weeds  of  pre- 
judice,  mistrust,  and   suspicion,  sprang  up  in 
his  young  breast  with  baleful  vigour.     He  had 
the  good  feeling  not  to  wound  those  who  show- 
ed him  kindness,  by  giving  utterance  to  these 
sentiments ;  the  good  taste  to  refrain  even  from 
sporting  them  in  mixed  society  :  but  the  canker 
was  at  the  heart  of  the  noble  tree,  and,  though 
the  leaves  looked  fresh   and  lovely,  decay  was 
within  ;  and  its  consciousness  excited  a  feeling 
of  melancholy,  not  the  less  oppressive  for  being 
undelinable. 

There  were  things  in  the  narrative  relating 
only  to  himself,  that  gave  his  pride  a  stab ;  and 
there  were  things  of  more  general  import,  tend- 
ing to  lower  the  tone  of  moral  feeling,  which  it 
is  natural  for  youth  to  place  rather  above  than 
below  the  standard  of  truth  and  experience. 
That  in  every  thought  and  word  of  Therese, 
the  hapless  victim  of  cold-hearted  and  barba- 
rous selfishness,  the  spirit  of  depreciation  should 
be  apparent,  was  indeed  but  natural ;  and  one 
who  had  been  educated  in  a  different  school, 


DE    LISLE.  247 

would,  in  making  every  charitable  allowance  for 
her  sentiments,  have  readily  detected  where  she 
was  wanting  in  equity  to  others.  Not  so  De 
Lisle.  Her  manuscript  did  but  confirm  the 
impression  made  by  previous  circumstances  on 
his  mind,  that  the  world  admitted  but  of  two 
distinct  races,  the  deceived  and  their  deceivers. 
Intrigues  and  cabals  among  princes  and  cour- 
tiers, were,  he  thought,  better  known  to  after- 
times,  who  feel  a  curiosity  in  the  destiny  of  the 
great,  often  beyond  what  they  deserve ;  but  the 
same  insincerity  and  finesse  were  daily  employ- 
ed by  more  unimportant  persons,  and  on  a  nar- 
rower stage.  Even  talents  could  save  no  one 
from  this  common  lot ;  for  Therese  herself  had 
been  not  unfrequently  cheated,  deserted,  de- 
luded, and  outwitted. 

Jealous  as  he  was  of  his  independence,  and 
impatient  of  all  management,  he  now  found 
that  his  conduct,  so  far  from  having  been  the 
result  of  his  own  free  will,  had  been  what  it 
suited  others  to  make  it.  Had  not  Major 
Wilmotj  a  man  he  despised,  marked  him  out 
as  a  prey  to  his  needy  mistress ;  and  had  not 
she  moulded  him  to  what  form  she  chose  .f^ 
Had  not  his  mother  separated  him  from  the 
person  he  had  vowed  to  himself  never  to  give 


248  DE    LISLE. 

up  ?  He  had  been  a  puppet,  acted  upon  by 
others — his  feelings  alone  were  his,  and  most 
heartily  was  he  ashamed  of  them. 
,  The  lesson  he  learned  from  the  past,  was 
neither  wholesome  nor  salutary  :  in  acquiring 
greater  coldness  and  greater  caution,  he  neither 
improved  his  judgment  nor  increased  his  hap- 
piness. He  felt  some  commiseration  for  The- 
rese  ;  but  there  was  nothing  soothing  to  him- 
self in  his  compassion.  Her  situation  was  un- 
natural, the  mere  result  of  the  vices  of  the 
powerful ;  her  feelingSj  therefore,  could  not 
but  be  in  some  measure  distorted  and  contra- 
dictory, and  could  hardly  meet  with  sympathy 
from  those  who  could  but  guess  imperfectly 
at  the  pleasures  and  the  mortifications  she  had 
to  encounter. 

"  Every  one,"*'  thought  Hubert,  casting  be- 
hind him  these  irksome  meditations,  "•'  has  his 
day  of  folly, — mine,  I  thank  Heaven  !  is  over." 
But  while  thus  unadvisedly  mingling  Heaven 
with  his  idle  concerns,  he  sought  not  its  in- 
fluence ;  and  with  the  experience  of  how  little 
he  could  rely  upon  himself,  he  did  not  the  less 
determine  to  double  that  reliance  for  the  future, 
and  to  adopt  no  other  safeguard  than  strength- 
ening himself  against  all  foreign  interference. 


DE    LISLE.  249 

He  did  not  travel  rapidly,  for  there  were 
many  things  to  see,  and  De  lisle  was  not  apt 
to  be  in  a  hurry.  At  last,  however,  he  joined 
the  Seymours,  at  the  little  town  of  Cette,  where, 
if  the  country  could  not  well  be  called  pretty, 
it  was  at  least  curious  to  an  English  eye. 
Vineyards  spread  over  the  high  hills,  but  it 
was  early  in  the  season,  and  Hubert  thought 
they  had  but  a  cold  straggling  effect,  very 
inferior  to  a  common  plantation.  The  cheer- 
ful little  bay,  overlooked  by  the  town,  was  a 
gayer  and  more  pleasing  prospect ;  and  he  was 
half- tempted  to  sail  round  to  Bordeaux,  in  their 
immediate  vicinity,  before  they  left  France  ;  but 
war  with  the  First  Consul  was  talked  of,  and 
Lionel  did  not  wish  to  linger  in  the  country  any 
longer.  Accordingly,  they  proceeded  to  Fontera- 
bia,  and  from  thence  more  leisurely  to  Salvatiera. 

If  De  Lisle  was  surprised  at  the  unexpected 
excellence  of  the  roads,  after  the  complaints 
he  had  heard  from  travellers  on  the  subject, 
Henry  was  not  less  so  at  finding  it  utterly 
impossible  to  make  himself  understood.  He 
spoke  Spanish  fluently,  and  had  not  been  pre- 
pared to  meet,  in  a  Spanish  province,  with  a 
language  altogether  aboriginal,  and  no  more 
like  Spanish  than  it   was  like  Latin   or   Eng- 

M  5 


250  DE    LISLE. 

lish.  Biscay  is  mountainous  and  barren,  nor 
did  the  occasional  appearance  of  orange  and 
citron  groves  appear  to  them  a  very  desirable 
substitute  for  the  forests  they  had  thought  fit 
to  expect. 

The  dress  of  the  peasants  was  curious,  and 
that  of  the  women  extremely  pretty — at  least, 
being  handsome  themselves,  they  looked  well  in 
it.  Salvatiera  was  within  a  league  and  a  half 
of  the  convent  of  Santa  Maria,  where  Isabella 
Seymour  had  taken  the  veil.  Monasteries,  both 
in  Spain  and  Portugal,  are  usually  situated  on 
some  commanding  eminence,  which  gave  occa- 
sion to  the  observation  made  by  a  minister  to 
the  Prince  of  Brazil,  who  complained  of  want- 
ing engineers :  "  Your  Royal  Highness  should 
not  forget  your  monks,  the  situations  of  whose 
convents  prove  them  to  be  the  best  engineers 
in  the  world." 

It  was  on  a  fine  spring  morning  that  the  tra- 
vellers mounted  their  mules,  and  proceeded  to  the 
nunnery.  The  scenery  was  not  new  to  Lionel, 
who  had  conducted  his  sister  thither  a  little 
more  than  a  year  back ;  and  Henry,  with  all 
the  Protestant  prejudices  against  convents,  was 
too  much  engrossed  by  melancholy  ruminations 
to  attend  to  it.     Hubert  alone  was  amused  by 


DE    LISLE.  S51 

what  he  saw,  and  felt  how  far  he  was  from 
home,  in  a  spot  diftering  so  widely  from  an 
English  landscape.  Vines,  olives,  orange  trees, 
long  canes,  with  occasional  aloes,  and  the  de- 
vil's fig,  formed  a  most  unaccustomed  variety 
to  his  eye. 

The  road  wound  round  a  hill ;  and  in  their 
continual  descent  they  approached  nearer  to 
a  small  but  angry  mountain  torrent,  that  dashed 
over  rocks  in  the  hollow,  with  a  wild  and  tur- 
bulent complaint,  not  very  well  calculated  to 
announce  the  peaceful  solitude  to  which  they 
were  journeying.  They  turned  the  projecting 
angle  of  a  rock,  that  diminished  their  already 
narrow  pathway,  and  beheld,  a  few  yards  from 
them,  a  huge  mass  of  building,  surrounded  by 
high  walls  and  tall  cork  trees.  "Santa  Ma- 
ria!" exclaimed  the  guide,  crossing  himself; 
and  the  travellers  paused  for  a  moment,  ere 
they  ascended  the  precipitous  path  in  the  cliff, 
that  led  up  to  the  gates  of  the  convent. 

In  this  huge,  ungraceful  pile,  strength  was 
the  sole  recommendation.  Biscay  is  the  only 
country  in  Spain  whose  public  buildings  boast 
no  remains  of  Moorish  grandeur  or  Roman 
proportion.  To  judge  from  the  appearance  of 
the  nunnery,  it  might  have  been  begun  by  the 


252  DE    HSLE. 

Cantabri,  as  a  place  of  defence^  and  had  been 
evidently  finished  by  a  more  modern,  but  not 
a  less  clumsy  hand. 

Henry  looked  up  and  sighed. — "  If  this," 
said  he,  *'  is  so  gloomy  to  us,  who  behold  it  for 
the  first  time  beneath  an  unclouded  sky,  and 
need  never  behold  it  more,  what  must  it  be  to 
those  unfortunates  fated  to  gaze  upon  the  un- 
varying scene  day  after  day,  and  see  beyond 
it  nought  but  the  grave!" 

''  The  sky  here  is  always  unclouded,"  re- 
plied Lionel ;  "  and  what  would  a  more  beauti- 
ful situation  avail  those  who  could  not  see  it 
through  their  massive  and  impenetrable  walls  r" 

Henry  shuddered  ;  and  De  Lisle,  in  a  conci- 
liating tone,  observed,  "It  was  your  sister's 
own  wish,  and  we  cannot  judge  for  others." 

"  But  how,"  said  Henry  eagerly,  '*  is  it 
possible  that  it  should  continue  to  be  her 
wish!" 

"  Nay,"  said  De  Lisle,  "  I  can  as  easily  fan- 
cy its  continuance  as  its  first  existence." 

"  Which  means,"  said  Lionel,  as  a  half  smile 
spread  over  his  serious  features,  '''you  can 
fancy  neither." 

"  Can  i/OM.^" 

The  smile  utterly  vanished  j  and  an  expres- 


DE    LISLE.  253 

sion,  such  as  Hubert  had  never  before  marked, 
took  its  place,  as  he  answered  evasively,  "  I  am 
not  a  Catholic." 

''  I  could  forgive  your  being  a  Catholic," 
said  Henry,  with  an  effort  at  cheerfulness,  "  but 
not  your  being  a  monk.*" 

"  And  yet  there  have  been  good  monks." 

"  But  no  happy  ones,  my  brother." 

"  Ay,  and  happy  ones  too,"  replied  Lionel, 
with  animation  :  "  think  but  for  a  moment  how 
much  better  a  good  monk  must  be,  than  one 
whom  the  world  is  content  to  call  good  ;  and 
who,  by  mixing  in  the  world,  and  comparing 
himself  with  the  many  who  are  worse  than  him- 
self, loses  ground  even  in  his  worldly  virtue." 

"  Are  there,  then,  two  sorts  of  virtue  ?"  asked 
Henry  incredulousl3^. 

"  It  is  because  there  is  but  one^""  said  his 
brother,  with  his  usual  smile  of  serene  bene- 
volence, "  that  we  should  be  the  more  disposed 
to  seek  it,  rather  than  to  rest  content,  as  we 
like  to  do,  with  its  mere  reflection." 

They  were  now  at  the  convent  gate,  where 
it  seemed  no  easy  matter  to  gain  admittance. 
At  last  the  heavy  bars  and  bolts  were  removed, 
and  they  proceeded  to  the  grate,  where  the  Ab- 
bess alone  received  them.     She  was  a  woman  of 


254  DE    LISLE. 

noble  birth,  who  never  could  have  been  hand- 
some, even  in  her  youth  :  she  made  up  for  the 
absence  of  beauty,  or  its  loss,  by  a  grandeur  of 
manner  little  short  of  regal,  and  a  tone  of 
haughtiness  but  ill  suited  to  a  cloister.  Her 
quick  eye  glanced  from  one  of  the  travellers  to 
the  other,  with  that  perturbed  and  restless  cu- 
riosity natural  to  secluded  persons,  with  whom 
a  stranger  is  an  event :  but  in  no  other  way  did 
she  betray  an  interest  inconsistent  with  her  ex- 
alted dignity  ;  and  her  words  fell  cold  and  mea- 
sured on  the  ears  of  her  visitors,  almost  as  if 
they  had  been  uttered  mechanically. 

The  Seymours  asked  if  they  might  see  their 
sister.  "  You  are  impatient,  young  men,*"  said 
the  Abbess ;  "  I  have  sent  for  her." 

As  she  spoke,  the  door  opened,  and  Isabella 
entered,  who,  having  made  the  accustomed  salu- 
tation to  the  Abbess,  stood  immovable,  await- 
ing her  permission  to  speak  to  her  brothers.  It 
was  granted ;  and  giving  her  hand  through  the 
grate  to  Lionel  and  Henry  alternately,  she  ad- 
dressed them  both  more  cheerfully  and  more 
affectionately  than  they  expected,  who  were 
themselves  half  frozen  by  the  cold  gravity  of 
the  Superior. 

"  Is  it  not  enough/**  said  Henry,  in  English, 


DE    LISLE. 


255 


and  with  unwonted  bitterness,  "  that  a  fortifi- 
cation is  raised  between  me  and  my  sister,  but 
may  I  not  even  see  her  face  ?" 

Isabella  turned  to  the  Abbess,  and  asked  per- 
mission to  unveil.  The  Superior  replied  in  the 
accent  of  rebuke,  "  There  is  a  stranger  with 
your  brothers." 

Hubert  immediately  proposed  to  withdraw, 
at  the  same  time  insinuating  that  Isabella  was 
not  unknown  to  him.  The  Abbess  was  pleased 
with  the  respectful  manner  of  De  Lisle,  and 
gave  the  desired  permission  without  excluding 
him. 

Miss  Seymour  was  a  very  young  girl,  when 
in  his  schoolboy  days  he  had  been  accustomed 
to  see  her  at  her  father's  house  :  she  was  now  a 
woman  in  the  prime  of  life — a  nun,  banished 
from  her  country,  cut  off  from  her  kindred,  se- 
parated from  the  world ;  a  something  neither 
living  nor  dead,  on  which  no  one,  least  of  all  a 
Protestant,  could  gaze  with  indifference. 

In  a  ball-room,  Miss  Seymour  might  have 
passed  unregarded,  surrounded  by  her  younger, 
handsomer,  and  more  animated  companions.  It 
was  otherwise  in  the  dress  of  the  cloister,  with 
which  her  calm  manner  and  tranquil  counte- 
nance seemed  peculiarly  to  accord.     It  was  in 


^56  DE    LISLE. 

vain  that  De  Lisle  sought,  in  her  face  or  form, 
for  traces  of  severe  abstinence  and  penance,  or 
in  her  countenance  for  trouble  of  any  kind. 
Her  figure  was  slender,  but  not  attenuated ;  and 
the  contour  of  her  cheek  was  smooth  and  grace- 
ful as  before  she  entered  on  the  monastic  life. 
Even  Henry  acknowledged  -she  was  looking  well, 
and  that  her  dress  would  have  been  becoming 
but  for  its  association. 

Isabella  smiled,  and  gently  observed,  that  if 
she  had  been  married,  and  settled  in  some  dis- 
tant part  of  their  own  country,  she  would  proba- 
bly have  seen  as  little  of  her  brothers  as  she 
could  now  do  :  and  that  they,  on  their  parts, 
engrossed  with  their  professions,  their  wives, 
and  families,  would  have  had  brief  leisure  to 
think  of  her,  much  less  to  visit  her.  Henry 
was  determined  not  to  agree  with  her  ;  and  even 
when  she  reminded  him  how  little  they  sought 
out  each  other's  society  while  residing  beneath 
the  same  roof,  he  still  clung  to  regrets  which 
were  in  fact  but  the  offspring  of  imagination. 

Although  the  Superior  understood  a  little 
English,  she  did  not  speak  it ;  and,  pleased  with 
the  attention  of  De  Lisle  and  Lionel,  who  al- 
ways addressed  Isabella  in  Spanish,  she  pro- 
posed their  not  returning  to  the  town  that  night.. 


DE    LISLE.  257 

In  the  outward  court  was  a  separate  building 
for  the  use  of  strangers ;  and  Father  Francis,  who 
resided  there,  was  summoned  to  receive  the  Eng- 
lishmen. 

The  call  to  prayers  was  now  heard ;  and  the 
Abbess,  excusing  the  attendance  of  Isabella  with 
more  graciousness  than  her  manner  promised, 
told  Hubert  he  had  better  fill  up  the  time  that 
would  intervene  before  she  could  again  appear 
in  the  parlour,  by  visiting  a  very  curious  grotto 
at  no  great  distance,  to  which  he  should  have  a 
guide.  She  proceeded  to  describe  it  very  ac- 
curately, though  she  observed  it  was  nearly 
forty  years  since  she  had  seen  it.  De  Lisle 
made  some  complimentary  observation  on  the 
strength  of  her  memory. 

"  It  is  not  wonderful,"  replied  the  aged  nun  ; 
"  I  have  seen  nothino;  since.''  Henrv^s  warm 
imagination  kindled,  and  he  could  almost  have 
fancied  an  interesting  victim  in  the  person  of 
this  unprepossessing  little  old  woman. 


258  DE    LISLE. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

When  De  Lisle  returned  from  his  ramble, 
he  found  the  quartette  engaged  in  tranquil  con- 
versation ;  the  Abbess  was  less  constrained, 
Lionel  less  sad,  and  even  the  agitation  of  Henry 
had  subsided.  The  faint  colour  that  emotion 
had  lent  to  the  cheek  of  the  English  nun,  had 
also  faded;  and  her  features  had  a  deathlike 
stillness,  more  appalling  than  melancholy.  Yet, 
beside  the  Superior,  her  tone  and  manner  were 
animated;  and  as  she  asked  about  some  English 
friends  and  neighbours,  it  seemed  at  least  as  if 
she  had  not  forgotten  that  a  world  lay  beyond 
the  convent  walls,  though  in  its  concerns  she 
took  but  a  feeble  interest. 

The  hour  of  collation  was  arrived,  and  it  was 
served  up  in  the  room  in  which  they  sat. 
"  Bring  hither  your  prisoner,'*'  said  the  Abbess 
to  Isabella;    and  Henry  started,  as  the  recol- 


DE    LISLE.  259 

lection  of  stories  about  incarcerated  nuns  arose 
in  his  mind. 

"  Holy  Mother,"*'  replied  Isabella,  "  silence 
and  tears  are  the  food  of  this  unfortunate ;  yet, 
if  it  is  your  will,  I  go  to  summon  her  to  partake 
of  our  repast.*' 

*'  Go,  my  child,"  was  the  laconic  reply  of  the 
Superior ;  who  turned  again  to  De  Lisle,  to,  in- 
quire farther  into  the  changes  time  had  wrought 
in  the  grotto  he  had  visited. 

In  a  few  minutes  Isabella  returned,  leading 
in,  not  a  veiled  nun,  but  a  young  woman  in  a 
splendid  Spanish  dress,  glittering  in  jewels,  and, 
from  the  anguish  of  her  countenance,  looking 
like  the  queen  of  woe.  At  sight  of  the  stran- 
gers, she  cast  over  her  head  a  magnificent  veil, 
edged  with  silver,  that  had  hung  on  her  arm, 
and  now  nearly  concealed  her  whole  figure,  fall- 
ing in  ample  folds  almost  to  her  feet. 

"  To-morrow,"  said  the  Abbess,  **  is  a  great 
day  with  us ;  it  has  pleased  the  most  holy 
bishop  of  this  diocese  to  fix  that  day  to  visit 
his  servants  and  children  of  Santa  Maria,  and 
to  confer  on  Donna  Theodora  Noverro  the 
white  veil.  She  will  then  enter  on  her  novi- 
ciate, and  doubtless  will  cease  to  regret  the 
vanities  of  a  perishable  world." 


260  DE    LISLE. 

The  unfortunate  prisoner  answered  not,  ex- 
cept by  a  low  moan  and  a  motion  of  her  hand, 
expressing  dissent.  Isabella  stood  beside  her, 
and,  in  the  most  soothing  accent,  endeavoured 
to  prevail  upon  her  to  drink  a  glass  of  wine  the 
Abbess  had  poured  out  for  her.  She  took  it  in 
her  trembling  hand  and  put  it  to  her  lips,  but, 
unable  to  swallow  it.,  replaced  in  on  the  board. 

"  Donna  Theodora,"  said  the  Abbess,  in  her 
cold,  slow  way,  that  at  such  a  moment  seemed 
almost  inhuman,  "  you  have  my  permission  to 
retire  to  the  cell  you  quitted,  or  to  walk  in  the 
garden  with  any  of  our  elder  sisters." 

Another  inarticulate  sound  escaped  the  lips 
of  Theodora  ;  but  it  was  only  from  her  rising 
instantly,  that  her  intention  of  departure  could 
be  gathered.  For  a  moment,  she  clung  for  sup- 
port to  the  grating,  and  as  she  bent  her  head 
against  it,  her  low  suppressed  sobs  were  more 
audible  to  the  Englishmen.  Lionel  with  diffi- 
culty could  restrain  his  brother  from  addressing 
her,  and  swearing,  in  the  presence  of  the  Abbess, 
to  release  her  at  all  risks. 

They  were  shortly  afterwards  dismissed,  no 
one  having  ventured  to  ask  a  question  relative 
to  the  young  sufferer,  fearful  of  embittering  a 
situation,  the  horror  of  which  they  could  not  aL 


DE    LISLE.  261 

leviate.  The  discourse  of  Father  Francis  did 
not  tend  to  banish  her  from  th^ir  thoughts,  as 
it  turned  chiefly  on  the  miracles  wrought  by 
their  patroness,  "  Mary  the  most  pure,''  as  she 
was  called  by  those  who  maintained  the  doctrine 
that  the.Blessed  Virgin  had  been  m.  ^aculously  ex- 
empted, at  her  birth,  from  all  taint  ot  original  sin. 

To  such  histories  De  Lisle  hearkened  with  a 
suppressed  smile  of  contempt,  and  Henry  with 
scarce  suppressed  indignation ;  while  Lionel, 
with  his  usual  benevolent  forbearance,  listened 
respectfully,  and  neither  opposing  nor  agree- 
ing, sought  to  turn  the  conversation  to  some- 
thing all  might  understand  and  approve.  This 
fortunate  subject  was  at  last  discovered  in  the 
person  of  a  lad  who  waited  on  them.  He  was 
born  deaf  and  dumb,  yet  withal  so  intelligent, 
and  to  all  appearance  so  cheerfid,  that  it  scarcely 
seemed  an  evil.  Stories  of  his  extreme  quick- 
ness of  perception,  and  the  retentiveness  of 
his  memory,  were  found  agreeable  substitutes 
for  the  legendary  tales  which  the  good  father 
had  poured  into  the  exhausted  ears  of  the 
strangers  ;  and  they,  in  consequence,  parted  for 
the  night  more  amicably  than  at  one  time 
Lionel  expected  them  to  do. 

They  repaired  to  the  dormitory,  where  the 


262  DE    LISLE. 

Seymours  soon  sunk  in  repose ;  but  De  Lisle, 
who  was  stronger  than  either  of  his  companions, 
and  accordingly  less  fatigued,  lay  ruminating 
on  nuns  and  convents,  and  was  awake  enough 
to  feel  distinctly  a  cold  hand  pass  over  his  face. 
Before  he  ha^  time  to  do  more  than  grasp  some- 
thing at  his  bed-side,  a  dark -lantern  was  sud- 
denly turned,  and  by  its  dim  light  he  beheld 
the  deaf  and  dumb  lad,  apparently  amused  at 
the  alarm  he  had  excited,  but  with  no  malevolent 
expression  in  his  bright  black  eye.  He  made 
a  sign  of  silence,  pointed  to  the  beds  of  the 
Seymours,  and  flared  the  light  above  their  eyes. 
Satisfied  that  they  slept,  he  again  approached 
Hubert,  put  the  light  on  the  bed,  and  produced 
an  unsealed  letter,  which  he  motioned  him  to 
read.  Wondering  where  this  would  end,  De 
Lisle  took  the  letter,  and  read  rapidly. 

''  I  dare  not  apply  to  my  brothers,  in  a  case 
I  have  much  at  heart,  for,  should  suspicion  light 
on  them,  I  could  never  more  hope  to  behold 
them.  To  you,  then,  who  have  no  interest  in 
any  one  here — to  you,  who  will  probably  never 
again  bend  your  steps  to  Santa-Maria,  I  turn 
to  implore  your  succour : — as  a  man,  you  cannot 
refuse  it  to  a  persecuted  woman — as  a  Protes- 


DE    LISLE.  263 

tant,  you  cannot  refuse  it  to  one  who  dreads  a 

cloister's  rigour — neither,  if  you  have  ever  loved, 

can  you  refuse  it  to  one  who  loves  but  too  well. 

You  may  think  this  address  strange   from   a 

nun ;  but  I,  who  never  loved  in  the  world,  may 

be  permitted  to  mention   within    /lese   sacred 

walls  a  word  that  at  no  time  caused  in  me  any 

emotion.     My  charge.  Donna   Theodora,  will 

to-morrow  take  the  white  veil;  she  will  then 

have  a  cell  of  her  own,  in  which  she  will  not  be 

confined.     Delay  your  departure,  on   pretence 

of  seeing  the  ceremony ;  write  to  Carlos  Mon- 

temar  her  lover,  and  desire  him  to  repair  hither 

with  speed.     Direct  your  letter  to  Burgos :  he 

lingers  there,  because  in  its  neighbourhood  is  a 

convent  for  noble  women,  where  he  expects  this 

nfortunate  will  be  confined  ;  bid  him  prepare 

a  suit  of  male  attire — Theodora,  in  that  dress, 

may  mingle  with  the  domestics  of  the  bishop, 

and  elude  the  vigilance  of  her  keepers;  fear 

not  to  trust  to  the  deaf  and  dumb  lad-     My 

letter  may  be  taken  from  him,  and  never  reach 

you  ;  in  which  case  I  alone  shall  be  punished ; 

once  read,  be  careful  to  destroy  it,  lest  you  share 

my  danger ; — the  boy  will  not  betray  you.' 


")  1^ 


This  epistle  was  not  very  easily  deciphered ; 


264  DE    LISLE. 

for,  though  written  on  good  paper,  the  other 
materials  were  not  very  well  adapted  to  the 
purpose — a  wooden  skewer,  that  occasionally 
made  two  strokes  where  the  writer  had  intended 
one,  had  been  the  pen,  dipped  in  some  scarlet 
liquid,  une(Jual  both  in  colour  and  consistence. 
At  first,  De  Lisle  thought  of  writing  an  answer 
to  Isabella ;  but  judging  this  might  be  impru- 
dent, he  took  off  from  his  watch-chain  a  small 
seal,  the  motto  of  which,  "  Leggi,  crede,  e 
tace,''*  she  could  not  but  remember,  her  father 
having  given  it  to  him  many  years  back,  and 
expressed  by  signs  to  the  lad,  that  it  was  to  be 
delivered  to  her. 

His  intelligent  companion  watched  his  mo- 
tions with  anxiety,  and  seemed  desirous  that 
Isabella's  letter  should  be  destroyed.  Hubert 
tore  it ;  but  the  lad,  not  satisfied  with  the  pre- 
caution, gathered  up  the  scattered  pieces,  and 
deliberately  swallowed  them.  He  then  closed 
his  lantern,  and  with  noiseless  tread  stole  out 
of  the  apartment.  Early  the  next  morning, 
De  Lisle  sent  off  for  Carlos  Montemar,  the 
Seymours  haying  conceded  to  his  wish  of  wit- 
nessing that  day'*s  ceremony.  Henry  was,  in 
truth,  curious  to  behold  it,  and  willing  again  to 
see,  and  if  possible  serve,   its  hapless  object. 


DE    LISLE.  ^65 

Lionel  opposed  not  his  wish  to  theirs ;  but  his 
heart  shrank  within  him,  at  the  thought  of 
Theodora's  sufferings.  He  knew  that  his  arm 
was  powerless  in  her  defence,  and  he  could  not 
contemplate,  willingly,  pangs  he  was  impotent  to 
assuage.  Meanwhile,  De  Lisle,  half  smiling  at 
his  quixotic  adventure,  half  doubtful  of  its 
issue,  was  careful  to  avoid  Isabella  as  much  as 
possible,  and  confine  his  conversation  solely  to 
the  Abbess,  or  Father  Francis. 

There  was  something  in  the  conduct  of  Miss 
Seymour  calculated  to  win  his  applause,  more 
than  that  of  many  less  reflecting  men.  She  was 
not  a  wretched  nun,  eager  to  save  another  from 
sorrows  like  her  own — she  was  not  one,  who,  re- 
membering she  had  loved,  sighed  over  the  vic- 
tim of  passion,  and  in  a  fit  of  enthusiasm 
devoted  herself  to  her  cause.  No !  she  was  a 
calm,  perhaps  even  a  cold  woman,  who  had 
chosen  the  cloister  and  wished  not  to  leave  it ; 
who  doubtless  thought  the  feelings  of  Theodora 
as  exaggerated  as  they  were  weak ;  but  the  in- 
tended novice  was  in  need  of  her  assistance, 
and  Isabella  would  have  thought  it  inhuman  to 
withhold  it.  It  was  at  great  personal  risk ;  but 
true  heroism  is  simple,  and  the  nun  saw  her  dan- 
ger, without  shrinking  from  it,  or  assuming  any 

VOL.    I.  N 


^66  DE    LISLE. 

merit  for  daring  it.  She  ventured  boldlj  to 
the  precipice,  strong  in  Christian  charity;  for 
slie  did  not  love  the  being  for  whose  sake  she 
exposed  herself  to  unknown  punishments,  that 
could  scarcely  fall  short  of  perpetual  imprison- 
ment or  death. 

"  What  a  pity,"  thought  Hubert,  "  that  such 
a  noble,  calm,  rational  being  should  be  lost  to  the 
world  !  While  her  parents  lived,  her  home  was 
comfortless;  but  her  brothers  remained,  who 
would  all  have  been  kind  to  her."  He  remem- 
bered, indeed,  that  Isabella  was  not  popular  ;  he 
knew  how  strict  she  had  been  in  her  religious  no- 
tions, and  that,  with  the  example  before  her  eyes 
(the  infelicitous  union  of  her  parents,)  she  had 
declined  entering  into  any  Protestant  family.  He 
thought  of  the  neglected  education  of  most  of 
the  English  Catholics,  among  whom  the  elegant 
and  accomplished  Miss  Seymour  was  little  likely 
to  make  a  choice  worthy  of  her ;  and  he  sighed 
to  think  that  a  convent  was  perhaps,  after  all, 
her  best  resource. 

"  And  can  it  be,"  thought  he,  continuing  his 
mental  soliloquy,  "  that  religion  can  thus  sever 
the  kindly  charities  of  life,  and  that  any  rea- 
sonable being  can  behold  this  breathing  tomb, 
with  feelings  of  comfort  and  veneration  ?     After 


DE    LISLE.  S67 

all,  most  things  in  this  sublunary  world  are  but 
what  we  think  them ;  and  where  we  know  that 
we  are  not  happy,  it  must  be  pleasant,  at  least, 
to  believe  that  we  are  good." 

Hubert  did  not  perceive  that  his  own  syst;em 
was  nearly  as  anti-social.  The  nun  does  but 
withdraw  herself  from  the  frequent  opportuni- 
ties of  showing  kindness  and  benevolence ;  while 
those  who  remain  in  a  world  from  which  they 
stand  apart,  wound  by  their  neglect  those 
who  claim  the  common  sympathies  of  our 
nature. 

The  Bishop  and  bis  train  arrived  about  mid- 
day. Donna  Theodora  was  unknown  to  the  ec- 
clesiastic, and  after  a  conversation  of  some  length 
with  her,  he  joined  the  persons  assembled  in  the 
parlour,  and  addressing  himself  to  Lionel,  po- 
litely regretted  his  inability  to  sanction  the  per- 
mission they  had  received,  of  seeing  her  take 
the  white  veil. 

"  Before  you  quit  Spain,"  he  continued, 
"  such  a  ceremony  will  in  all  probability 
occur  again,  at  which  you  may  be  present, 
without  any  objection  arising ;  but,  in  this  in- 
stance, I  should  not  feel  justified  in  admitting 
strangers  :  however,  that  you  may  understand 
fully  my  desire  to  gratify  all  harmless  curiosity, 

N  2 


\ 


268  DE    LISLE. 

I  will  (subject  to  the  good  pleasure  of  the  Su- 
perior) allow  of  your  passing  this  grating  im- 
mediately after  the  ceremony  is  concluded,  and 
viewing  the  chapel-garden,  and  such  parts  of 
the  convent,  as  have  been  shown  in  past  times 
to  illustrious  visitors."" 

Lionel  bowed  in  silence,  and  immediately 
withdrew,  followed  by  his  companions. 

*'  What  say  ye  .f^"  he  asked  ;  "  shall  we  accept 
of  the  amende  honorable  made  us  by  the  priest, 
or  shall  we  mount  our  mules  and  return  to  Sal- 
vatiera,  so  saving  Isabella  the  pain  of  parting  ?" 

It  was  evident  which  the  speaker  judged  best 
to  do,  by  the  conclusion  of  his  phrase ;  but 
Henry,  who  thought  so  abrupt  a  departure 
might  seem  unkind  to  his  sister,  was  not  dis- 
posed to  go,  luckily  for  Hubert,  who  could 
hardly  have  hit  on  an  expedient  for  de- 
taining the  brothers,  had  they  been  both  in- 
clined to  depart.  As  they  continued  to  wander 
about  the  environs  of  the  monastery,  De  Lisle 
frequently  turned  a  scrutinizing  glance  towards 
the  road,  on  which  he  every  moment  expected 
to  see  Carlos  Montemar  appear.  The  sun  was 
already  declining  towards  the  west,  and  flinging 
long  slanting  shadows  on  the  hills,  and  yet  he 
came  not. 


DE    LISLE.  269 

"  Donna  Theodora,"  said  Hubert  to  himself, 
'^will  take  the  veil,  out  of  pique  at  having  so 
dilatory  a  lover." 

But  the  words  had  scarcely  presented  them- 
selves to  his  mind,  when  a  horseman,  as  impetu- 
ous as  his  utmost  impatience  could  desire, 
turned  round  the  angular  rock  that  concealed 
the  convent  from  the  eye  of  the  traveller,  and 
spurring  his  noble  courser  up  the  steep  ascent, 
looked  very  much  as  if  he  would  also  scale 
the  proud  walls  before  him.  Hubert,  who  had 
forgotten  to  caution  him  against  mentioning  his 
name,  no  sooner  beheld  him,  than  he  rushed 
down  the  hill  to  arrest  his  progress,  much  to 
the  astonishment  of  the  Seymours,  who  conti- 
nued to  gaze  at  him,  and  at  one  another,  till 
Henry  gave  way  to  an  uncontrolled  burst  of 
laughter,  and  even  the  serious  features  of  Lionel 
were  for  a  moment  relaxed. 

"  I  think,"  observed  the  latter,  "  I  never 
saw  De  Lisle  in  a  hurry  before ;  he  is,  doubt- 
less, greeting  with  pleasure  some  intimate  ac- 
quaintance :  but  what  a  quick  eye  he  must  have 
to  know  a  friend  from  a  foe  at  this  dis- 
tance r 

"  And  only  think,"  cried  Henry,  "  of  never 
mentioning  this  dear  friend — he  must   be  very 


270  DE    LISLE. 

much  ashamed  of  him.  Let  us  go  and  see  what 
he  is  like ;"  and  the  brothers  slowly  turned 
down  the  path  their  companion  had  bounded 
across  with  such  unwonted  swiftness. 

They  soon  joined  De  Lisle,  but  no  introduc- 
tion to  the  stranger  ensued;  and  Lionel,  judg- 
ing from  so  discouraging  an  omission,  that  their 
presence  might  be  a  restraint,  soon  took  another 
direction  from  the  one  Hubert  and  his  compa- 
nion were  silently  pursuing.  Montemar  had 
brought  with  him  the  dress  of  a  servant,  as  one 
least  liable  to  observation ;  but  how  to  convey 
it  to  Theodora  was  the  difficulty. 

While  the  matter  was  yet  in  discussion,  an 
uncouth  noise  close  beside  them  made  them 
start  ;  and  turning  round,  they  beheld  the  deaf 
and  dumb  lad  crouched  in  the  thicket,  which 
overhung  and  concealed  him  so  much,  that  at 
first  glance  a  bright  black  eye  was  alone  dis- 
cernible peeping  through  the  surrounding  fd- 
liage.  He  made  a  rapid  sign  to  Hubert,  and 
shrank  back  amid  the  underwood.  They  con- 
cluded that  the  presence  of  an  unknown  person 
was  a  restraint  upon  his  communication,  and 
Montemar  immediately  walked  on  out  of  sight. 
The  boy  now  sprang  up,  and,  satisfying  himself 
that  no  one  was  near,  presented  a  slip  of  paper. 


DE    LISLE. 


271 


on  which  Isabella  had  pricked  with  a  pin  the 


following  words  : — 


"  Give  the  clothes  to  the  baarer  ;  ask  leave 
to  be  followed  in  your  visit  to  the  chapel-garden 
by  a  favourite  boy  who  never  quits  you." 

Hubert  hastened  to  comply  with  the  former 
part  of  the  direction ;  but  his  trusty  messenger 
shook  his  head  at  the  size  of  the  bundle.  He 
opened  it,  and,  taking  out  every  thing  he  thought 
could  be  dispensed  with,  put  the  other  things 
on  himself,  covering  them  carefully  with  his  own 
ordinary  apparel.  Hubert,  after  recommend- 
ing Mont^mar  to  be  in  readiness  with  the  horses 
at  an  appointed  spot,  sought  out  the  Seymours, 
and  merely  requested  of  them  to  show  no  sur- 
prise, and  make  no  comments  on  what  he  might 
do  or  say  for  the  rest  of  that  day,  as  on  the 
following  all  should  be  explained  to  them.  Hen- 
ry promised  compliance,  though  he  confessed 
his  curiosity ;  but  Lionel  earnestly  intreated 
of  him  to  embark  in  no  convent  intrigue,  in 
a  country  where  ijt  might  not  be  so  easy  to 
escape  the  eye  of  the  InquJKition. 

"  Fear  not,"  replied  Hubert,  concealing  his 
own    apprehension    under    forced   merriment ; 


272  DE    LISLE. 

"  I  am  nowise  disposed  to  run  away  with  the 
Lady  Abbess,  and  your  sister  is  as  httle  dis- 
posed to  run  away  with  me ;  so  having  seen  no 
other  nun,  I  cannot  be  accused  of  any  such  sa- 
crilegious design." 

"  Donna  Theodora  !"  said  Lionel  anxiously. 

"  Is  not  a  nun  yet,  perhaps  not  even  a 
novice,"  eagerly  replied  his  friend ;  "  and,  at 
any  rate,  we  are  getting  beyond  the  bounds 
prescribed." 

Lionel  knew  it  would  be  vain  to  press  him 
any  farther  :  he  was  silenced,  but  not  satisfied ; 
and  regretted  the  facility  with  which  he  had 
given  up  his  own  wish  of  an  earlier  departure. 

They  were  now  summoned  to  the  grate, 
where  several  of  the  elder  nuns  appeared  beside 
the  Abbess,  to  catch  a  few  words  of  courtesy  and 
benediction  from  the  Bishop,  who,  in  their  eyes, 
seemed  scarce  inferior  to  the  Deitv.  The 
Bishop,  who  was  a  man  of  the  world,  appeared 
quite  as  alive  to  the  absurdity  of  their  questions 
and  compliments  as  the  Englishmen  could  be ; 
but  his  national  gravity  and  acquired  forbear- 
ance, enabled  him  to  play  his  part  in  the  ridi- 
culous scene,  with  a  dignity  that  checked  the 
smile  lurking  in  the  eyes  of  the  strangers. 

As  soon  as  the  order  was  given  for  the  nuns 
to  retire  and  the  visitors  to  be  admitted,  Hu- 


DE    LISLE.  273 

bert  looked  for  some  sign  from  Isabella,  who 
would,  lie  thought,  fix  the  proper  moment  for 
his  request  relative  to  the  admission  of  a 
fourth  ;  but  she  had  withdrawn,  and  he  pro- 
ceeded to  the  great  gate  of  the  convent, — which 
the  Bishop  himself  opened, — wondering  what 
could  be  done,  if  the  ecclesiastic  was  gracious 
enough  to  await  there  the  return  of  a  person 
who  would  be  nowhere  to  be  found.  From 
this  embarrassment  he  was  saved  by  the  polite 
but  decided  negative  given  to  his  request. 

*'  You  are  aware,  gentlemen,"  said  the  Bishop, 
that  I  am  already  partly  exceeding  my  power 
-^^n  attendant  I  cannot  admit." 

Hubert  apologised  for  the  request  on  the  plea 
of  ignorance,  and  the  party  were  shown  into  the 
cliapel,  which  was  much  prettier  than  the  out- 
side of  the  building  promised,— and  the  garden, 
which  was  almost  gay.  There,  to  his  surprise, 
Hubert  found  the  deaf  and  dumb  lad  at  work. 

"  The  sisters,  in  general,"  observed  their  coi> 
ductor,  ''  cultivate  this  garden,  and  rear  with 
indefatigable  pains  these  beautiful  flowers ;  but 
some  of  them  are  now  feeble  with  age,  and  re- 
quire assistance.  Father  Francis  grants  them 
the  indulgence  occasionally  of  this  boy's  labour, 
who  is  in  fact  fit  for  little  else." 

Hubert  at   this   moment   stood  close  to  the 

N  5 


274  DE    LISLE. 

active  young  gardener,  who  had  not  seemed  to 
observe  their  approach;  but  now  looked  up  with 
an  expression  of  countenance  so  full  of  drollery 
and  mischief,  that  it  struck  Hubert  as  utterly 
impossible  that  he  had  not  heard  the  comment 
passed  upon  himself.  The  glance  was  rapid, 
and  the  labour  had  never  been  interrupted,  so 
that  no  one  else  remarked  it.  In  their  way  back 
they  were  met  in  the  chapel  by  Isabella. 

"  Our  good  mother,""  she  said,  "  has  sent  me 
to  give  her  parting  blessing  to  the  strangers : 
being  fatigued  with  this  day's  ceremony,  she  has 
retired  to  her  cell ;  but  hopes  you  will  visit  her 
and  accept  of  what  poor  refreshment  our  house 
affords." 

"  Doubtless,  my  child,''  replied  the  digni- 
tary, "  but  first  suffer  me  to  reconduct  the 
strangers." 

*•'  My  brothers  may  not  thus  dissipate  a  time 
so  precious,"  said  Isabella  respectfully.  "  Our 
portress  is  sick,  and  I  am.  this  day  her  substitute  ; 
suffer  me  to  bar  the  gates  on  our  visitors,  lest,  if 
you  linger  longer,  night  close  on  you  ere  you 
reach  the  even  road.  Heavily  would  it  fall  on 
the  poor  nuns  of  Santa  Maria,  did  any  accident 
befall  on  his  way  their  benign  and  gracious 
diocesan !" 


DE    LISLE.  275 

The  Bishop  smiled  at  the  gentle  earnestness  of 
the  nun  ;  but  Isabella,  whether  in  the  world  or 
the  cloister,  was  not  a  person  to  be  disregarded. 
Cold  and  formal  as  she  usually  appeared,  she 
had  the  power  of  fascinating  when  she  chose  to 
exert  it ;  but,  careless  of  popularity,  she  seldom 
thought  it  worth  while  to  affect  greater  anima- 
tion or  interest  than  she  really  felt.  In  this 
case,  she  was  anxious  to  get  the  Bishop  out  of 
her  way — it  was  necessary  to  soothe,  flatter, 
and  cajole  him  to  effect  this ;  and,  to  the  sur- 
prise of  Hubert,  the  calm,  simple,  noble-minded 
nun  now  played  the  part  of  a  dexterous,  artful 
woman,  with  a  grace  and  facility  of  which, 
from  her  immovable  countenance  and  un- 
bending manner,  he  had  judged  her  utterly 
incapable. 

"  These  high  walls,"  thought  he,  "  these 
dreary  cells,  these  eternal  prayers,  fastings,  and 
vigils,  are  all  powerless  on  female  tempers  ;  and 
woman,  find  her  where  you  will,  is  still  a  ma- 
noDuvrer  !" 

The  cause  might  have  sanctified  the  deed 
with  a  more  candid  spirit;  but  De  Lisle  was 
at  that  moment  behind  the  scenes,  and  he  could 
not  see  the  hidden  springs,  and  the  whole  ma- 
chinery at  work,  without  bestowing  on  it  a  smile 


276  DE    LISLE. 

of  contempt.  Success  crowned  the  plan  of  the 
recluse.  The  Bishop  bestowed  his  benison  on 
the  travellers,  and  left  them  for  the  promised 
collation  in  the  apartment  of  the  Abbess.  Isa- 
bella went  to  a  recess,  in  which  stood  the  figure 
of  a  saint ;  and  from  behind  it,  trembling  with 
terror  and  agitation,  issued  a  delicate-looking 
youth,  whom  she  took  by  the  hand,  and  led  up 
to  De  Lisle. 

"  Your  boy,"  she  said  hastily  ;  "  be  swift  and 
cautious  !"  Then,  seizing  a  hand  of  each  of  her 
brothers,  she  hurried  them  through  a  dark 
passage,  which  led  to  a  postern,  which  speedily 
unbarring,  she  let  them  out. 

"  The  other  gates,"  she  said,  "  have  been  un- 
closed, on  account  of  the  Bishop's  visit ;  go 
straight  through  the  court,  and  you  will  soon  be 
beyond  the  convent  walls.  God  bless  you  !  my 
brothers  ;  this  is  no  time  for  long  farewells,  but 
write  to  me,  inclosed  to  the  Abbess.  I  am-in 
favour,  and  if  your  letter  be  circumspect,  I 
shall  see  it ;  follow  your  companion !  Nay,  tarry 
not,  for  much  hangs  on  your  speed." 

Isabella  stood  at  the  little  gate,  till  they  had 
gained  the  extremity  of  the  court ;  then  making 
them  another  signal  for  despatch,  her  light  figure 
glided  away,  and  seemed  to  confound  itself  with 


DE    LISLE.  277 

the  increasing  gloom.  The  Englishmen  hur- 
ried on  in  silence,  mounted  their  mules,  all  but 
De  Lisle,  who,  placing  Theodora  on  his  beast, 
led  it  carefully  on  to  the  first  turning  in  the 
road. 

Here  he  quitted  his  companions,  but  promised 
to  overtake  them  shortly  ;  and  was  as  good  as 
his  word,  for  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
he  joined  them ;  and  they  then  continued  their 
journey  at  a  rate  that  soon  brought  them  to  the 
entrance  of  Salvatiera.  He  there  related  the 
whole  of  his  adventure  to  the  Seymours,  who 
rejoiced  at  the  escape  of  the  novice, — for  Monte- 
mar  was  found  at  the  place  appointed,  and 
would,  ere  morning  dawned,  have  passed  the^ 
frontiers  with  his  fair  charge, — wondered  at  the 
courage  of  their  sister,  and  expressed  some  an- 
xiety to  know  the  result.  This,  however,  did 
not  seem  probable  for  the  present ;  and  Lionel, 
who  always  saw  a  possibility  of  their  being  im- 
plicated in  the  transaction,  recommended  their 
starting  early  on  the  following  morning,  which 
was  accordingly  agreed  to  and  executed. 


278  DE    LISLE. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Henry  Seymour,  though  never  a  very  strong 
man,  had  now  acquired  a  tone  of  health  and 
spirits,  that  fully  enabled  him  to  mix  with  the 
world,  and  endure  the  fatigue  of  travelling  in  a 
country  where  bad  roads  and  worse  accommo- 
dation made  it  often  a  trial  of  strength.  Lio- 
nel, who  watched  over  the  tender  plant  his  an- 
xious care  had  saved  from  perishing,  with  that 
sort  of  calm,  consistent  benignity  with  which  we 
may  fancy  a  higher  order  of  spirits  looking  down 
on  man,  beheld  with  delight  the  beneficial  results 
of  the  system  he  had  adopted  for  his  brother. 
By  cherishing  his  affections,  exciting  his  interest 
and  curiosity,  and  affording  him  the  means  of 
various  occupation,  he  had  done  more  for  his 
happiness  than  climate  or  medical  skill  had 
done  for  his  health,  wonderfully  as  that  seemed 
established.     He  had  gained  too  a  heart  with 


DE    LISLE.  279 

all  its  untried  and  powerful  tenderness,  a  spirit 
long  blighted  and  depressed,  inly  mourning  its 
own  feebleness  and  coldness,  but  now  exulting 
in  new-born  vigour,  turning  with  romantic 
fondness  and  confiding  gratitude  to  the  power 
that  roused  it  into  being,  as  the  gladdened 
flower  looks  to  the  sun  to  which  it  owes  its 
beauty  and  its  fragrance. 

To  De  Lisle  the  improvement  in  the  younger 
Seymour  was  absolutely  marvellous.  He  attri- 
buted it  almost  solely  to  his  restored  health. 
He  knew  how  much  the  mind  is  influenced  by 
the  body,  and  he  forgot  that  the  influence  is 
mutual.  If  he  did  not  give  Lionel  the  credit 
he  deserved,  it  was  because  such  power  appear-^ 
ed  to  him  impossible,  not  because  he  doubted 
his  friend's  qualities  of  head  and  heart.  There 
was,  indeed,  a  harmony  in  the  thoughts,  words, 
and  actions  of  Lionel,  the  beauty  of  which 
could  not  pass  unobserved  by  a  person  of  Hu- 
bert's good  taste.  Other  men — good  and  clever 
men  too — often  spoke  by  chance  and  acted 
from  impulse ;  but  in  Lionel  there  seemed  a 
perfect  whole,  to  which  every  trifle  contributed, 
and  from  which  nothing  could  be  retrenched 
without  leaving  him  incomplete. 

He  was  one  of  those  rare  mortals  who  pass 


S80  DE    LISLE. 

now  and  then  through  a  dark  and  infidel  world 
as  an  earnest  of  immortality,  leaving  behind 
them,  long  after  they  themselves  have  been 
called  hence,  a  luminous  track  by  which  in- 
ferior spirits  may  be  guided  and  sustained. 
Though  De  Lisle  was  not  free  from  pride,  or 
even  utterly  exempt  from  vanity,  he  was  inca- 
pable of  the  littleness  that  shrinks  from  asso- 
ciating with  those  who  surpassed  him.  He 
knew  and  felt  the  superiority  of  Lionel ;  he 
had  not  the  courageous  humility  to  study  the 
excellence  he  admired  for  the  purpose  of  imi^ 
tation,  but  every  fresh  proof  of  it  gave  him 
fresh  pleasure.  He  loved  him,  for  it  was  but 
just  such  a  man  should  be  loved:  he  loved  him, 
because  he  vindicated  human  nature  by  his  own 
lofty  example:  he  loved  him,  in  short,  for  a 
less  noble,  but  hardly  less  powerful  reason,  be- 
cause he  knew  that  Lionel  was  not  indifferent 
to  him, — and  equally  proud  did  he  feel  of  his 
esteem,  and  grateful  for  his  regard. 

Although  Henry  concluded  that  all  who 
knew  his  brother  must  delight  in  him,  and  there- 
fore was  not  disposed  to  be  obliged  to  any  one 
for  a  sentiment  so  involuntary,  his  regard  for 
De  Lisle  was  doubtless  much  increased  by  see- 
ing how  fully  the  latter  appreciated  a  character 


DE    LISLE.  281 

SO  far  above  the  common  standard.  These 
young  men,  besides,  had  many  pursuits  in  com- 
mon :  they  loved  music  and  poetry  and  beau- 
tiful scenery — they  viewed  together  the  remains 
of  Moorish  grandeur  and  taste,  till  they  half 
regretted  the  Saracen  invader — they  beheld  a 
weak  government,  a  profligate  court,  an  ignorant 
nobility,  and  a  proud,  pampered,  and  arrogant 
priesthood  —  they  admired,  complained,  exe- 
crated, and  scorned  in  concert.  They  turned 
to  Lionel,  listened  with  pleasure  and  admira- 
tion to  his  more  tempered  and  judicious  re- 
marks, yet  never  failed  to  renew  their  own  as 
the  inducement  arose. 

They  spent  the  whole  summer  in  Spain,  for 
the  intense  heats  were  unpleasant  to  travel  in, ' 
and  they  had  nothing  to  carry  them  home  at 
any  particular  time.  While  loitering  in  Gra- 
nada, the  most  delicious  spot  they  had  hitherto 
visited,  they  talked  over  various  plans  for  their 
return  home.  Every  day  a  new  route  was  pro^ 
posed,  and  after  due  discussion  abandoned,  as 
not  leading  near  to  Salvatiera ;  and  though  the 
Seymours  had  not  positively  determined  on 
another  visit  to  their  sister,  they  were  loath  to 
leave  Spain  without  seeing  her  again. 

One  day,  as  they  were  sauntering  under  the 


282  DE    LISLE. 

magnificent  colonnade  of  the  Alhambra,  called 
the  Court  of  Lions,  never  weary  of  contem- 
plating the  beauty  of  the  building,  and  mourn- 
ing over  its  desertion,  the  sound  of  an  English 
accent  caused  them  to  look  round  with  that 
indefinite  emotion  known  only  to  those  who 
are  far  from  home  and  unaccustomed  to  hear 
its  language.  The  speaker  was  not  merely  an 
Englishman,  but  an  acquaintance,  of  Lioners 
at  least,  they  having  been  in  the  same  corps 
together  when  it  served  in  India. 

Major  Linden  was  a  gay  rattle,  popular  with 
boys  and  women,  active  in  promoting  all  sports, 
excelling  in  most  games,  invaluable  to  those 
who  could  not  find  occupation  for  themselves, 
and  somewhat  fatiguing  to  those  who  could. 
He  and  Seymour  had  never  been  friends,  but 
they  had  been  thrown  much  together,  and  they 
now  met  on  a  foreign  land  with  cordiality.  He 
gave  an  account  of  all  he  had  done  since  he  had 
last  seen  Lionel,  with  a  degree  of  volubility 
that  astonished  De  Lisle  and  diverted  Henry. 
He  mixed  his  own  concerns  and  those  of  others, 
his  opinions  past  and  present,  in  so  rapid  and 
irregular  a  manner,  that  to  follow  him  was 
scarcely  possible;  the  brilliant  confusion  of  his 
discourse  leaving  no  definite  impression  of  any 


DE    HSLK.  283 

sort.  His  style  of  interrogatory  was  as  singu- 
lar as  his  style  of  narrative.  Complaining  that 
he  could  meet  no  one  but  an  old  cobler  to  show 
him  the  curiosities  of  the  place,  he  proceeded 
to  overwhelm  Lionel  with  questions,  which,  if 
answered,  would  have  kept  the  party  stationary 
till  nightfall ;  but  with  the  same  velocity  he 
continued  to  run  on,  sometimes  answering  his 
own  questions,  sometimes  making  lively  guesses, 
and  then  comments  upon  these  notions  as  if 
they  had  been  all  so  many  facts,  then  flying 
off  to  something  else  as  wide  from  the  subject 
as  could  well  be  imagined. 

It  was  long  before  De  Lisle  could  make  out, 
in  all  this  chaos  and  superabundance  of  words, . 
the  plain  fact  that  Major  Linden  was  only  lately 
come  home,  and,  finding  nothing  better  to  do, 
had  been  sailing  up  the  Mediterranean  with  his 
brother.  Lord  Linden,  who  had  a  yacht  of  his 
own,  and  had  flattered  himself  such  an  expe- 
dition mi^ht  be  of  use  to  his  wife,  whose  health 
was  delicate.  Having  taken  a  fancy  to  see 
Granada,  they  had  landed ;  but  the  journey 
from  the  coast,  though  not  great,  had  impaired 
the  strength  of  Lady  Linden,  and  they  were 
waiting  in  the  town  till  she  was  somewhat  re- 
cruited.    Hardly  had  De  Lisle  made  himself 


284  DE    LISLE. 

master  of  this  intelligence,  when  he  found  him- 
self not  only  at  Lord  Linden's  door,  but  posi- 
tively ushered  into  his  room. 

Lord  Linden  was  a  fine-looking  man,  of  a 
certain  age;  but  awkward  in  his  manner,  and 
having  rather  an  under  look.  Still,  he  had  the 
air  of  a  gentleman ;  and  his  expressions,  if  not 
natural,  were  certainly  polite. 

"  What  have  you  done  with  Susan  ?"  asked 
the  Major. 

"  She  is  overcome  with  the  heat,  and  is  lying 
down,"  replied  his  brother,  "  but  you  may  sum- 
mon her  if  you  choose." 

Major  Linden  started  up  to  seek  his  sister- 
in-law,  but  at  this  moment  the  door  opened 
and  she  entered.  Lady  Linden  was  a  pretty, 
faded-looking  woman,  with  an  expression  of 
soft  languor  and  meek  depression  in  her  coun- 
tenance, which  extended  itself  even  to  her  way 
of  moving.  She  drew  back  involuntarily  at 
the  sight  of  strangers,  but,  recovering  herself, 
immediately  advanced  with  an  air  of  courtesy. 

She  scarcely  glanced  towards  the  strangers  as 
she  bowed  to  them ;  but,  on  hearing  the  name  of 
Seymour,  she  started,  coloured  faintly,  and 
looked   up,   as  if  half-desiring,   half-dreading 


BE    LISLE.  285 

what  she  might  see.  Lionel  instantly  recog- 
nized her,  but  apparently  without  sharing  in 
her  emotion.  He  went  up  to  her,  took  her 
hand,  and  expressed  his  pleasure  to  find  an  old 
friend,  though  with  a  new  name. 

My   congratulations,    I   fear,"    he    added, 

will  come  so  long  after  the  time,  that  you 
will  probably  dispense  with  them  altogether." 

''  I  have  been  married  nearly  two  years,"  said 
Lady  Linden  with  effort,  and  she  smiled ;  but 
De  Lisle  thought  so  ghastly  a  smile  he  had 
never  before  seen  on  a  human  face. 

Now  it  was  that  the  utility  of  such  a  person 
as  Major  Linden  became  conspicuous.  He 
talked,  laughed,  bustled  about,  occupied  every 
one,  and  gave  his  sister  leisure  to  rally  her  spi- 
rits. She  did  so :  the  evening  passed  pleasantly, 
and  the  more  so,  when  Lord  Linden  discovered 
that  Lionel  was  a  chess-player.  To  this  game 
both  sat  down  with  nearly  equal  eagerness; 
Henry  was  following  upon  the  map  some  route 
Major  Linden  wanted  him  to  take,  and  De  Lisle 
entered  into  conversation  with  the  lady.  It  was 
a  relief  to  him  to  turn  from  the  cataract  of  the 
soldier''s  conversation,  to  the  polished  phrases 
and  slow  pronunciation  of  the  young  Peeress. 


286  DE    LISLE. 

After  a  time,  however,  he  began  to  weary  of  a 
tete-a-tete^  prolonged  merely  because  neither 
party  knew  very  well  how  to  break  it. 

He  now  thought  her  words  were  mechanical, 
her  attention  forced  ;  and  asking  her,  if  she  was 
not  tempted  to  overlook  the  game,  he  ad- 
vanced to  the  chess-table,  whither  she  did  not 
follow  him. 

"  You  must  be  an  excellent  player,  Sir,''  said 
Lord  Linden,  rising  abruptly,  "  for  you  have 
always  kept  the  advantage  over  me." 

Lionel,  after  such  a  speech,  could  not  with- 
out rudeness  deny  the  fact,  though  he  did  not 
think  himself  a  superior  player :  he  simply  re- 
plied, he  had  had  much  practice. 

"  If  1  had  your  coolness,  I  might  beat  you 
yet,"  said  the  half-ruffled  Peer. 

"  You  shall  take  your  revenge  when  you 
like,*"  said  Lionel ;  "  a  game  is  quite  a  treat  to 
me,  for  my  brother  knows  nothing  of  it,  and 
my  friend,"  he  added  smilingly,  laying  his  hand 
on  Hubert's  shoulder,  "  would  think  it  too  much 
trouble.'*" 

"  Is  it  possible !"  cried  Lord  Linden,  losing 
his  anger  in  his  surprise ;  "  and  can  you  know 
chess,  and  be  indifferent  to  it  ?" 

"  The   wonder,  I    should   think,  my  Lord," 


DE    LISLE. 


287 


replied  Hubert,  "  is  rather,  that  one  should  not 
be  indifferent  about  every  thing,  than  that  one 
game  should  not  be  found  to  attract  every  body ;" 
and  with  these  words  they  parted,  though  not 
without  a  promise  of  meeting  the  following 
day. 

They  were  scarcely  in  the  open  air,  when 
Henry  expressed  his  dislike  to  Lord  Linden, 
his  amusement  at  his  brother,  and  his  pity  for 
the  invalid,  concluding  with  asking  who  she 
was  before  her  marriage. 

"  She  was  a  very  pretty  rosy  girl,"  said  Lio- 
nel "  the  daughter  of  a  ruined  banker,  whose 
name  was  Bellamy." 

"  Bellamy  !"  reiterated  Henry  ;  "  so,  then, 
this  is  the  Miss  Bellamy  that  was  in  love  with 
you  before  you  went  abroad  ?'"' 

"  Where  could  you  have  picked  up  such  a 
gossip''s  story,  Henry  ?  I  was  a  boy  when  I 
left  England,  never  thought  of  Susan  Bellamy 
but  as  a  good  dancer,  and  never  certainly  re- 
ceived any  encouragement  from  her." 

"  I  am  not  accusing  poor  Lady  Linden  of 
proposing  to  you  in  form,  since  you  would  not 
propose  to  her  ;  but  you  cannot  make  me  for- 
get  all   I    heard,   at  the  time,  of  her  mother's 
plans  and  your  insensibility."" 


288  DE    LISLE. 

"  Her  mother,  like  many  other  mothers,  was 
eager  to  marry  her  daughter,  and  by  her  over- 
solicitude  often  defeated  her  own  plans.  She 
may  possibly  have  said  Susan  liked  me — ^it  is 
a  hackneyed  manoeuvre,  and  had  so  Httle  effect 
on  me,  that  I  am  really  not  certain,  at  this 
distance  of  time,  whether  it  was  tried  or  not. 
At  any  rate,  I  acquit  Lady  Linden,  for  I  be- 
lieve her  to  be  amiable  and  artless." 

"  Artless  !  a  la  mode  desfemmes,  I  presume  ?"" 
said  De  Lisle  sarcastically. 

"  Poor  women  !"  said  Lionel,  smiling  ;  "  you 
are  not  their  champion  f' 

"  But  you  are,  Lionel ;  so  they  may  do 
without  me." 

"  I  am  afraid,  nevertheless,  even  I  must 
allow  that  they  are  not  grateful,  for  you  cer- 
tainly stand  higher  in  their  favour  than  I  do." 

"  And  reason  good,-— I  pay  them  more  at- 
tention ;  and  how  should  they  know  by  in- 
tuition that  you  think  better  of  them  than  I 
do  ?  Besides,  they  fear  you  ;  while  those  who 
are  disposed  to  take  the  trouble,  liave  always  a 
latent  hope  of  succeeding  with  me." 

"  And  you,""  said  Seymour,  laughing,  "  hav- 
ing a  latent  consciousness  that  they  are  in  the 
right,  hate  them  for  the  power,   whether  they 


DE    LISLE.  289 

exert  it  or   not.     I  cannot  deny  the  meed  of 
praise  to  so  magnanimous  an  emotion  !" 

''  Have  I  not  a  right  to  despise  women  ?" 

"  What !  because  one  has  deceived  you  ! 
Did  you  ever  form  the  rational  design  of  closing 
your  eyes  against  the  light  of  Heaven,  because 
they  may  sometimes  have  encountered  unplea- 
sant objects?" 

Henry,  who  had  loitered  behind,  now  came 
up,  and  De  Lisle  did  not  choose  to  continue  the 
conversation.  Indeed,  he  had  been  rather  led 
into  it  unawares  ;  for,  with  all  his  confidence  in 
his  friend,  he  shrank  from  the  confession  of  sen- 
timents that  might  lower  him  in  his  esteem.  It 
was  not  women  alone  that  he  felt  little  dis-. 
posed  to  trust  or  approve — it  was  the  whole 
human  race ;  and  how  would  Seymour,  the 
most  benevolent  and  indulgent  of  mortals,  who 
reflected  as  it  were  the  light  of  his  own  ex- 
cellence on  all  around  him — how  would  he 
brook  the  cold,  uncharitable  doctrine  ?  Impos- 
sible !  Hubert  knew  it  was,  and  suffered  not 
the  bitterness  of  his  heart  to  overflow  before 
him. 

The  Lindens  seemed  in  no  hurry  to  depart, 
and  De  Lisle  would  have  been  tempted  to  re- 

VOL.  I.  o 


290  DE    LISLE. 

joice  in  the  circumstance  but  for  the  evident 
unhappiness  of  Lady  Linden,  in  whose  fate  he 
could  not  be  altogether  uninterested.  Her  hus- 
band was  morose  to  her,  though  to  no  one  else, 
and  her  feeble  spirits  were  unequal  to  contend- 
ing any  point.  She  trembled  if  he  but  raised 
his  voice ;  an  ungracious  word  brought  the  tears 
into  her  eyes.  While  thus  easily  affected  by 
harshness,  she  was  uncheered  by  any  transient 
show  of  affection,  whether  it  was  that  she  deem- 
ed it  insincere  or  capricious.  She  received,  in- 
deed, all  such  fits  of  attention  with  great  sweet- 
ness, as  if  she  thought  herself  bound  in  cour- 
tesy to  return  the  obligation,  but  not  as  if  it 
gave  her  any  real  pleasure.  Nor  did  it ;  for 
she  feared  her  husband,  and  had  long  ceased 
to  flatter  herself  she  might  one  day  love  him. 
With  a  little  more  firmness,  she  might  have 
overcome  her  alarms  and  concealed  her  indiffer- 
ence; but  she  was  what  Lionel  had  called  her — 
perfectly  artless, — and,  therefore,  utterly  une- 
qual to  play  the  part  the  ambition  of  her  pa- 
vents  had  assigned  her. 

Lord  Linden  had  married  her  for  love,  and 
love  is  not  reasonable.  He  had  a  young,  lovely, 
and  gentle  wife,  docile  and  amiable,  who  tried 


]>E    LISLE.  291 

to  return  his  affection,  and  might  with  a  little 
encouragement  have  succeeded;  but  the  im- 
patient Peer  no  sooner  discovered  it  was  yet  to 
be  done,  than  his  indignation  was  boundless. 
He  was  not  young,  and  felt  it  the  more  keenly, 
and  watched  his  young  wife  with  a  degree  of 
intemperate  jealousy  which  she  took  for  mere 
ill-humour.  She  lost  her  health,  and  his  ten- 
derness for  a  time  returned,  but  he  could  not 
destroy  the  dread  he  had  inspired  her  with,  and 
her  tears  and  weakness,  both  of  mind  and  body, 
became  at  last  more  irksome  than  interesting. 
Unfortunately  for  her  comfort,  it  required  no 
penetration  to  fathom  her  feelings,  and  her  hus- 
band saw  at  one  glance  what  those  were  with 
which  she  met  Lionel  Seymour. 

With  that  perverseness,  however,  which  some- 
times influences  jealous  persons,  so  far  from 
withdrawing  her  from  the  society  of  a  person 
so  fatally  dear  to  her,  he  felt  the  most  acute 
and  painful  curiosity  to  see  how  she  would 
conduct  herself  when  the  first  surprise  was 
over,  and,  above  all,  to  discover  whether  his 
composure  had  been  the  effect  of  habitual  self- 
command,  or  the  natural  result  of  indifference. 

He  courted  the    Seymours   while  he  hated 

o    2 


^G2  DE    LISLE. 

them,  and  vigilantly  pursued  a  plan  of  watch- 
fulness which  by  no  means  sweetened  his  tem- 
per. Yet  after  a  time  he  was  obliged  to  confess 
that  he  might  be  mistaken,  for  Lady  Linden 
neither  sought  nor  avoided  Seymour,  rarely 
addressed  herself  to  him,  did  not  even  make  it 
up  to  herself  by  greater  cordiality  to  his  bro- 
ther ;  and  if  at  any  time  she  showed  any  at- 
tention beyond  the  coldest  courtesy  to  the 
young  men,  that  attention  was  reserved  for  De 
Lisle.  Yet  of  him  Lord  Linden  even  did  not 
feel  jealous ;  for  Hubert,  who  soon  penetrated 
the  fierce  and  nowise  frank  nature  of  the  Peer, 
took  care  never  to  betray,  even  in  his  manner, 
the  simple  and  natural  interest  that  he  felt  for 
the  lady  ;  while  she,  taking  refuge  in  his  cold- 
ness, and  pleased  with  the  general  obligingness 
and  refinement  of  his  disposition,  delighted  in 
honouring  the  being  whom  Lionel  loved. 

There  was  a  sort  of  tacit  agreement  too 
between  them,  to  avoid  certain  subjects  and 
bring  forward  others  ; — thus,  in  speaking  of  any 
thing  he  had  seen  curious  on  his  travels,  he 
never  mentioned  the  Seymours :  it  was  evident- 
ly soothing  to  her  to  hear  what  Lionel  had  seen, 
without  having  him  named.     In  the  same  way. 


DE    LISLE.  293 

lyithout  one  single  confidential  phrase  on  her 
own  situation  or  her  husband's  tyranny,  she  felt 
that  he  saw  it,  and  sometimes  a  faint  and  strug- 
gling smile  thanked  him  for  the  commiseration 
so  blended  with  respect  and  delicacy  which 
alone  betrayed  his  observation. 


294  DE    LISLE. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

One  day  that  Lionel  and  his  brother  were 
taking  a  ride,  which  Hubert's  laziness  indis- 
posed him  from  joining,  Lady  Linden  asked 
permission  to  look  at  some  sketches  they  had 
made,  and  De  Lisle  took  his  portfolio  to  her 
house.  Her  husband  was  there,  looking  more 
than  usually  disturbed ;  his  brother,  careless 
and  riotous  as  ever;  and  the  lady,  pale,  calm, 
and  seeming  like  one  who  wondered  at  remain- 
ing yet  in  the  land  of  living  men,  when  she 
herself  could  scarcely  be  said  to  exist. 

She  received  De  Lisle  almost  cordially,  and 
was  apparently  reanimated  by  any  thing  that 
led  her  out  of  herself.  He  drew  the  table  near, 
and  placing  the  drawings  before  her,  turned 
them  over  one  by  one,  patiently  describing  all 
he  remembered  of  the  situations  where  they  had 
been  taken.     There  was  gentleness  in  his  man- 


DE    LISLE.  295 

ner,  but  not  a  shadow  of  gallantry ;  and  Lady 
Linden,  therefore,  quite  at  her  ease,  became 
almost  interested.  Even  her  lord  suffered  the 
sullens  to  merge  into  dignity,  and  expressed  his 
admiration  of  some  of  the  masterly  sketches 
pointed  out  by  his  brother. 

*'  And  did  you  do  all  these,  Mr.  De  Lisle .?" 
he  said,  after  looking  at  several. 

*'  Not  all,'*  repHed  Hubert  carelessly,  "  it  is 
our  collection." 

*'  Then  both  the  Mr.  Seymours  contributed, 
did  they  ?  You,  who  are  a  judge  of  these 
things,  Lady  Linden,  can  tell  me  doubtless  by 
Avhom  each  drawing  was  done." 

*'  Not  exactly,'^  said  his  wife  fearfully,  "  but 
I  see  there  are  thiee  distinct  styles." 

"  And  you  cannot  guess  them  apart  ?  For 
an  artist,  methinks  that  is  strange !" 

"  Do  you  wish  me  to  try,"  she  asked,  with 
an  effort  at  cheerfulness ;  "  if  so,  I  should 
guess  that  what  Mr.  De  Lisle  passed  over  in 
silence,  are  his  own  ;  and  that  these  more  highly 
finished  ones  are  Mr.  Henry  Seymour's:  be- 
cause I  know  his  brother's  style,  having  seve- 
ral of  his  drawings  by  me  now,  which  he  gave 
me  many  many  years  ago :"  and  Lady  Linden, 
who  had  spoken  with  no  apparent  embarrass- 


296  DE    LISLE. 

ment,  could  not  check  a  sigh  at  the  end,  as  she 
thought  of  the  period  when  those  sketches  had 
been  given.  The  inward  flame  burned  fiercely 
in  the  breast  of  her  lord,  but  he  suffered  it  not 
to  blaze  openly. 

"  I  am  glad,"  he  said,  "  that  I  did  not  over- 
rate your  discernment ;  and  I  cannot  sufficiently 
admire  your  memory;  for  as  I  never  saw  the 
drawings  you  mention,  I  conclude  you  have 
not  seen  them  since  your  marriage." 

"  I  have  not,"  said  Lady  Linden,  "but  I 
am  not  apt  to  forget ;"  and  there  was  a  sinking 
in  her  voice  that  went  to  the  heart  of  De  Lisle. 

Willing:  to  turn  the  conversation  into  some 
safer  channel,  he  smilingly  observed,  '*  That 
is,  indeed,  a  rare  and  blessed  quality,  under 
favour  of  which  even  I  may  hope  to  be  remem- 
bered, though  I  wander  to  distant  lands,  and 
leave  my  bones  to  bleach  on  a  foreign  shore." 

*^  That  I  have  remembered,  is  indeed  true," 
answered  the  lady  ;  "  but  you  seem  to  overlook, 
Mr.  De  Lisle,  that  I  am  one  who  will  shortly 
live  but  in  the  memory  of  others."  She  raised 
her  meek  eyes  with  an  expression  of  compla- 
cency as  if  the  thought  of  repose  had  been  a 
balm  to  her  heart. 


DE    LISLE.  297 

Lord  Linden's  feelings  took  another  turn  : 
his  wife  had  not  accustomed  him  to  her  com- 
plaints, for  this  was  the  first  intimation  she 
had  ever  given  that  she  thought  herself  dying. 
It  struck  him  with  sudden  affright  :  he  looked 
at  her,  and  thought  he  had  never  seen  her  so 
wasted  and  ghastly.  '*^  Has  she  so  few  mo- 
ments to  live,"  said  he  inwardly,  '*  and  do  I 
embitter  those  few  ?""  The  thought  was  more 
than  he  could  quite  bear,  and  he  suddenly  left 
the  room. 

Major  Linden,  who  attributed  the  words  of  the 
invalid  to  mere  lowness  of  spirits,  and  had  not  a 
guess  of  the  effect  they  had  produced  on  his 
brother,  continued  to  pour  forth  his  voluble 
comments  on  the  scenes  commemorated  by  the 
pencil  of  the  travellers.  It  was  an  easy  transi- 
tion from  the  drawings  themselves  to  those  who 
executed  them.  Henry  had  found  favour  in 
the  sight  of  the  soldier,  and  he  praised  him 
warmly.  Hubert,  with  his  usual  languid  quiet- 
ude, assented  to  the  eulogy  without  furthering 
the  conversation. 

"  As  to  Lionel,"  continued  Major  Linden, 
"  I  know  not  what  you  have  done  to  him,  but 
he  looks  like  Henry's  father.   In  India  I  thought 

o  5 


298  DE    LISLE. 

him  a  Methodist,  but  at  least  he  was  young,  and 
looked  so.  He  was  handsome,  too,  and  ani- 
mated ;  but  what  is  he  now  ?" 

"  He  is  now — ^"  said  Hubert,  with  unwonted 

earnestness,  "^  sl  man ""  he  paused,  for  Lady 

Linden's  cold  hand  touched  his,  and  he  felt  the 
grasp  of  her  tremulous  fingers,  as  a  petition  for 
forbearance.  He  gently  returned  the  pressure, 
and,  in  his  general  moderate  tone,  added,  "  One 
it  is  needless  for  us  to  discuss,  since  we  should 
not  agree  on  the  subject." 

But  the  soldier,  though  he,  like  many  com- 
monplace persons,  loved  to  cast  a  ridicule  upon 
those  who  were  greater  than  himself,  had  no 
spite  against  Lionel,  and  no  desire  to  wound  the 
feelings  of  his  friend.  Instead,  therefore,  of 
letting  the  matter  drop,  as  Hubert  wished,  he 
made  an  elaborate  apology,  confessing  that  it  was 
only  a  pity  so  few  people  were  like  Seymour. 

"  His  airs  of  sanctity,'"  pursued  the  Major, 
"  may  seem  neither  uncouth  nor  unnatural,  now 
that  he  is  at  liberty  to  live  alone,  or  to  choose 
only  companions  as  steady  as  himself;  but  they 
were  not  suitable  to  his  situation,  his  age,  or  his 
associates,  when  I  first  knew  him.  It  is  all 
right  for  a  clergyman  to  refuse  his  colonel's  in- 
vitation to  dance  at  his  house,  because  a  com- 


DE    LISLE.  299 

mon  soldier  wished  him  to  pray  by  his  sick-bed ; 
but  foi  a  youth,  whose  business  it  is  not,  to 
make  so  strange  an  election,  and  that  for  no 
particular  reason  or  attachment  to  the  sufferer, 
is,  you  must  allow,  carrying  the  thing  too  far." 

De  Lisle  rather  thought  so  too,  and  wondered, 
besides,  at  the  fact :  it   seenjed  to  him  a  fit  of 
zeal,  unlike  the  unpretending  temper  of  Sey- 
mour ;  yet,  as  his  act,  he  would  have  defended 
it,  had  he  not  feared,  on  Lady  Linden's  account, 
to  prolong  the  conversation.     Aware  that  insi- 
nuations against    those  who  were  dear  to  him 
roused  his  indignation,  he  could  not  quite  under- 
stand the  calmness  of  that  lady,  who  seemed  to 
shrink  more  from  the  chance  of  hearing  Lionel 
defended  than  she  did  from  hearing  him  accused. " 
He  watched  her  manner  for  a  shade  of  displea- 
sure against  her   brother-in-law,  but  none  ap- 
peared ;  he  looked  for  alteration  on  her  features, 
there  was  none.     One  crimson  streak  there  was 
on  her  usually  pale  cheek,  but  it  was  more  like 
an  indication  of  bodily  disease  than  a  sudden 
emotion  of  the  mind,  for  it  was  stationary.    Yet 
of  her  fatal  attachment  he  could  not  doubt,  and 
it  inspired  him  with  no  small  degree  of  pity, 
almost  of  respect. 

He  had  a  natural  tendency  to  romance,  and 


300  DE    LISLE. 

accordingly  felt  disposed  to  overlook  what  might 
be  wrong  in  her  feelings,  in  consideration  both 
of  their  object  and  their  constancy :  it  seemed 
to  him  so  difficult  to  care  for  Lord  Linden,  and 
so  impossible  to  cease  to  care  for  Seymour. 
Whether  culpable  or  not,  he  could  not  but  be 
indulgent  to  one  \5iho  paid  the  penalty  of  her 
conduct  by  hourly  suffering,  and  the  prospect 
of  a  premature  dissolution.  Still  it  was  not  a 
circumstance  that  diminished  his  disdainful  opi- 
nion of  his  fellow-creatures.  True,  her  husband 
was  not  amiable ;  but  she  was  not,  therefore, 
justified  in  accepting  his  hand,  and  withholding, 
on  her  part,  the  ajflpection  that  prompted  his 
offer.  She  had  married,  as  he  thought,  for  an 
establishment,  and  he  scorned  the  proceeding 
with  all  the  might  and  delicacy  of  his  nature. 
Here,  too,  it  was  aggravated  by  insincerity,  and 
he  thought  if  the  gentle,  the  affectionate,  the 
upright  could  so  act  (and  in  many  cases  he 
saw  that  Lady  Linden  was  all  this),  what  must 
be  the  general  conduct  of  those  who  had  none 
of  these  pretensions  to  public  good-will  ? 

These  reflections  were  not  what  principally 
occupied  him,  though  they  failed  not  to  find 
their  place ;  what  he  most  thought  of  was 
breaking  up  a  party,  which  could  not  continue 


DE    LISLE.  301 

together  without  adding  to  the  bitterness  of 
Lady  Linden''s  lot.  It  was  before  he  had  found 
time  to  propose  any  plan  to  his  friends,  that  a 
delicious  moonlight  night  tempted  the  whole 
party  to  loiter  in  the  garden  surrounding  Lady 
Linden's  house.  They  inhaled  the  strong  per- 
fume of  the  orange  flowers  mixed  with  bal- 
samic shrubs,  which  tempered  its  faintness  by 
an  odour  of  a  spicy  nature. 

"  Oh,"  cried  Lady  Linden,  "  for  the  re- 
freshing sound  of  rushing  waters,  and  this  would 
be  a  paradise !"" 

"  Wishes  cost  nothing,'*''  said  Henry,  "  and 
therefore  I  would,  with  one  stroke  of  a  fairy 
wand,  transport  the  company  to  the  Court  of 
the  Lions,  build  up  the  alabaster  vase  that 
stands  in  the  centre,  pour  back  its  mighty  vo- 
lume of  waters  that  have  so  long  ceased  to  flow, 
and  watch  those  mellow  beams,  broken  by  the 
building,  glitter  on  the  water,  which  would 
shower  back  into  its  vase  each  drop  shining  like 
a  falling  star." 

"  I  think,*"  said  the  lady,  "  I  must  close  my 
eyes,  and  enjoy  the  benefit  of  the  image  you 
have  conjured  up  to  my  fancy." 

"  It  was  barbarous,'"  said  De  Lisle,  "  to 
destroy  so  beautiful  an  ornament  of  so  classic  a 


<6 


302  D£    LISLE. 

shape.  Is  it  known  at  what  period  it  ceased 
to  be  used,  and  was  deprived  of  the  waters 
that  fed  it  r 

"  Of  course  it  is  known,"  answered  Lord 
Linden,  "  though  I  either  forget  or  never 
knew." 

They   should  have   ceased,"   said  Lionel, 

when  they  were  stained  with  the  blood  of  the 
Abencerrages,  and  their  headless  trunks  were 
strewn  on  the  pavement,  victims  to  the  jealousy 
of  the  Moorish  king." 

"  That,  indeed,  was  a  horrid  story !  and  the 
more  so  as  the  queen  was  probably  innocent," 
said  Lady  Linden. 

"  Then,"  rejoined  Lionel,  "  you  think  no- 
thing of  the  murder  of  so  many  innocent  men, 
if  she  had  been  guilty  ?" 

He  spoke  sportively,  and  the  lady  only  smiled, 
and  shook  her  head  in  token  of  dissent ;  but 
her  husband  turning  abruptly  round,  in  a  tone 
of  repressed  emotion  exclaimed  : 

"  The  unfortunate  King  was  severely  pu- 
nished for  his  suspicions  ;  yet,  as  usual,  no  one 
pities  him.  The  Zegris  were  surely  more  to 
blame — nay,  for  aught  we  know,  the  Queen 
herself;  but  he  who  suffered  more  than  death, 
more  than  defeat — he  is  not  merely  condemned 


DE    LISLE.  303 

as  a  barbarian,  but  his  motives  as  well  as  his 
conduct  unfeelingly  censured." 

"  Jealousy,"  said  his  brother,  "  is  not  a  suf- 
fering or  passion,  call  it  which  you  will,  with 
which  it  is  very  easy  to  sympathize — many  are 
incapable  of  feeling  it,  many  hold  it  criminal, 
and  many  more  laugh  at  it  because  they  have 
never  been  tried." 

"  To  laugh  at  any  thing  that  gives  pain,"  said 
his  sister,  "  is  unnatural  and  savage,  but  jealousy 
is  no  harmless  pang.  It  may  torture  the  pos- 
sessor, but  it  does  not  stop  there.  Every  one 
suffers  for  the  malady  or  mania  of  one  person, 
which  is  not  equitable ;  besides,  as  the  mistrust 
that  jealousy  inspires  is  any  thing  but  flatter- 
ing to  the  object,  so  it^is  concealed,  and  we  all 
know  that  what  is  not  spoken  cannot  be  con- 
troverted ;  thus  the  evil  gathers  strength  in  the 
shade.*" 

"  What  is  not  spoken  may  yet  be  seen  and 
understood,"  said  the  Peer  gloomily. 

"  Not  always,"  answered  his  wife  mildly,  "  for 
we  see  many  things  we  do  not  understand." 

Nothing  more  was  said,  but  De  Lisle  was 
confirmed  in  his  resolution  of  speaking  to  Lio- 
nel, which  he  executed  that  very  night.  Henry 
had  left   them,  and  his  brother  listened  to  the 


304  DE    LISLE. 


I 


proposal  of  Hubert,  and  its  motives,  not  merely 
with  attention,  but  with  an  air  of  dejection 
which  alarmed  his  friend. 

"  Is  it  so  painful  to  part  with  her  ?"  he  asked, 
in  a  tone  of  uneasiness  that  roused  Lionel. 

Turning  towards  him  a  countenance  sad  but 
open,  he  said  with  the  most  friendly  smile, 
"  Fear  not  for  me,  I  am  safe :  reserve  your 
compassion  for  her.  It  may  be  vanity,  but  I 
fear  to  leave  her  too  suddenly.  Perhaps  I 
have  been  wrong,  but  my  idea  was  to  remain 
here,  till,  accustomed  to  my  society  and  my  in- 
difFereoce,  she  gradually  gave  up  the  illusions 
with  which  she  now  associates  me." 

"  That  you  are  both  more  rational  and  more 
honourable  than  most  people,  I  believe,"  re- 
plied De  Lisle;  "but  even  for  you  1  cannot 
think  such  a  plan  wise ;  your  presence  is  more 
likely  to  increase  her  husband's  jealousy  than 
to  allay  it,  and  I  cannot  fancy  its  quenching 
the  flame  on  which  time  and  absence  have  had  no 
effect.  She  knew  before,  that  you  did  not  love 
her ;  it  is  no  new  discovery  ;  and  I  can  hardly 
feel  secure  of  your  continued  indifference,  if  you 
are  to  witness  this  young,  interesting  creature 
sink  into  an  untimely  grave." 


DE    LISLE.  805 

*'  I  do  not  think  she  will  die,  and  I  am  quite 
sure  that  I  shall  never  feel  for  her  more  than  I 
do  now, — the  most  painful  commiseration,  not 
quite  unmixed  with  self-reproach  at  not  having 
sooner  detected  and  checked  a  preference  I 
could  so  little  deserve." 

"  And  who  insures  you  such  surprising  in- 
sensibility if  we  continue  here,  and  you  are 
daily  watching  her  ineffectual  endeavours  to 
conceal  unabating  love .?'' 

"  Who  insures  it,  say  you  ?  I  answer — the 
past.  A  man  may  live,  and  quite  well  too,  with 
the  loss  of  a  limb  or  an  eye — he  may  also  live 
when  Death  has  smitten  some  of  his  best  and 
strongest  feelings.  I  have  yet  a  heart  for  my 
friends — I  have  none  for  love.'* 

"  At  your  age,  Lionel !  Why,  you  had  better 
be  a  monk  at  once." 

"  Not  quite;  for  it  is  pleasant  to  roam  through 
the  world  at  liberty,  and  return  to  die  in  the 
spot  that  gave  us  birth.  I  certainly  do  not 
intend  to  marry,  but  I  make  no  vow  against  it ; 
for  doubtless  there  are  many  amiable  women  to 
be  found,  who  would  not  expect  to  find  a  lover 
in  their  husband.  I  am  speaking  as  a  matter 
of  reason  ;  but  we  act  from  our  feelings,  or,  at 


306  DE    LISLE. 

least,  rarely  vary  much  against  them,  and  the 
idea  of  marriage  is  as  revolting  to  me  as  the 
recollection  of  love  is  painful/' 

"  Surely  you  could  not  have  loved  in  vain  ?" 

"  If  I  had  done  so  I  could  have  overcome  it, 
and  might  then  have  loved  again." 

There  was  a  long  pause,  which  De  Lisle  had 
too  much  delicacy  to  break.     Lionel  spoke  first. 

"  There  are  some  things  too  sacred  almost 
for  the  ear  even  of  friendship,  y^t  I  cannot  be 
mysterious  to  you,  and  since  we  have  got  on 
this  topic,  I  will  go  through  with  it.  Nay,  in- 
terrupt me  not, — once  told,  I  shall  find  com- 
fort in  knowing  there  is  one  who  feels  for  me." 

LioneFs  voice  faltered,  and  he  turned  away 
his  head.  After  a  moment  he  resumed.  "You 
know  that  I  had  once  very  wild  spirits — they 
enabled  me  to  overcome  even  the  gloom  of  the 
paternal  mansion,  and  so  far  were  useful,  but, 
unluckily,  the  disposition  also  led  me  to  form 
expectations  of  happiness,  and  visions  of  excel- 
lence most  fallacious.  Time  sobered  me — the 
regiment  I  was  in,  the  country  I  was  sent  to, 
all  tended  to  disappoint  my  high-born  hopes. 
I  saw  oppression  where  I  had  expected  great- 
ness, knavery  among  tliose  who  talked  of  phi- 
lanthropy, fame  falling  on  the  fortunate^  and 


DE    LISLE.  307 

denied  to  the  deserving.  My  standard  of  hu- 
man excellence  was  lowered,  and  the  tone  of  my 
spirits  sunk  with  it.  Yet  they  never  fell  to  the 
level  of  yours,  De  Lisle  ;  for  I  remembered  that 
these  things  were  but  for  a  day,  and  were  subject 
to  the  direction  of  one  who  cannot  err  and  will 
not  sleep.  There  was  much  evil  that  I  saw, 
but  I  knew  there  was  much  good  that  from  its 
nature  I  could  never  see ;  and  I  did  not  despair 
of  man  when  I  saw  him  weak,  because  I  knew 
he  might  gain  other  strength  than  his  own. 

'*  The  colonel  of  my  regiment  had  taken 
over  his  wife  and  daughter — the  latter  was 
young,  not  strictly  handsome,  but  enough  so  to 
gain  much  admiration  where  she  was.  I  thought 
her  amusing — we  danced  together,  sang  to- 
gether, and  had  a  regular  flirtation,  which  was 
put  a  stop  to,  just  as  it  was  getting  rather  too 
serious,  by  her  father,  who  behaved  openly  and 
handsomely.  He  won  my  heart  by  seeming  to 
rely  upon  me ;  and  after  our  conversation,  I 
should  as  soon  have  thought  of  making  love  to 
his  wife  as  to  his  daughter.  She  thought  I 
gave  her  up  too  easily,  I  fancy,  for  she  treated 
me  with  great  coldness,  not  to  say  disdain :  how- 
ever, she  married  at  last,  and  then  Ave  became 
very  good  friends.     I  was  a  little  uncomfortable 


308 


DE    LISLE. 


at  her  marriage,  but  it  soon  wore  off;  and  just 
at  that  time  I  received  my  father^s  orders  to  re- 
pair to  England  immediately,  in  consequence  of 
the  death  of  my  elder  brother. 

"  I  disliked  selling  out  of  the  army,  and 
thus  giving  up  my  profession  the  moment  I 
could  live  without  it.  Much  time  was  spent  in 
fruitless  negociation  for  an  exchange :  in  the 
mean  time,  my  mother  also  dying,  my  father''s 
impatience  to  have  me  home  increased.  I  was 
not  to  wait  for  any  regular  conveyance,  not 
even  for  an  English  ship,  and  I  agreed  to  take 
my  passage  on  board  a  Dutchman.  Our  long 
voyage  was  performed  prosperously  and  rapidly 
till  we  were  almost  within  sight  of  home.  A 
gale  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay  well  nigh  proved 
fatal — we  were  driven  on  the  coast  of  France, 
not  far  from  La  Rochelle.  At  that  time  we 
were  at  war  with  France,  and  all  hope  of  getting 
to  England  from  thence  was  soon  put  an  end  to. 
My  patience  was  severely  tried  at  finding  how 
vain  had  been  my  haste,  and  that  I  had  to  wait 
the  re-fitting  of  the  Dutchman  in  a  dirty  fishing 
town  so  near  home. 

"  Perhaps  I  owed  my  life  to  the  delay,  for  my 
exertions  during  the  storm,  though  unfelt  at 
the  time,  had  affected  my  health,  and  the  third 


DE    LISLE. 


309 


day  after  my  landing  I  had  a  return  of  the  fever 
with  which  I  had  been  seized  as  soon  as  I 
reached  Ceylon.  I  was  very  ill:  my  captain, 
who  had  a  sort  of  regard  for  me,  had  me  con- 
veyed in  a  kind  of  htter,  a  little  way  up  the 
country,  to  the  house  of  a  person  he  knew,  who 
had  received  him  immediately  after  the  accident 
tliat  had  so  materially  delayed  us.  This  house 
looked  as  if  the  very  genius  of  inconsistency 
had  presided  over  its  erection,  distribution,  and 
arrangement,  whether  exterior  or  interior. 

"  Nor  was  this  wonderful,   for  it  had  been 
the  family  seat  of  a  nobleman  attached  to  the 
royal  cause ;    at  different  periods  it  had  been 
plundered  and  set  fire  to,  but  the  massy   walls  • 
refused   to  consume,   and    some   friendly  hand 
had   always  been   found  to  check  the  ravages 
of  the  flames.     During  the  hottest  days  of  the 
Revolution,   the  estate  had  been  seized  by  an 
attorney,    who    sold   it  in   parcels ;    the  house 
and  a  few  fields  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  an 
honest  merchant,  who  knew  nothing  of  its  for- 
mer possessors,   and,  finding  such  a  range  of 
building  inconvenient,  was  strongly  tempted  to 
pull  the  whole  to  the  ground,   and  erect   with 
the  materials  a  more  commodious  and  suitable 
mansion. 


310  i>E    LISLE. 

''  His  own  family,  at  the  time  I  was  thrown 
upon  his  hospitality,  was  not  large,  and  could 
not  spread  itself  over  one-half  of  the  castle  that 
yet  remained  entire.  It  consisted  of  himself, 
his  wife,  her  son  by  a  former  marriage,  and 
his  old  aunt,  with  her  foster-child.  During 
my  illness,  however,  neighbours  poured  in 
so  numerously,  from  mingled  motives  of  cu- 
riosity and  benevolence,  that  I  concluded  the 
castle  must  be  a  perfect  ant's  nest.  I  received 
the  greatest  attention  and  politeness  from  all 
around  me  ;  but  as  I  grew  better,  I  had  little 
wish  for  their  society.  It  was  known  I  should 
recover,  and  the  interest  of  my  situation  sub- 
siding, the  gossip  was  ended,  and  by  degrees, 
my  host  and  his  aged  relative  excepted,  none 
seemed  to  remember  that  a  sick  foreigner  had 
been  received  at  the  castle. 

*'  The  old  woman,  who  was  called  Dame 
Martigni,  was  constant  in  her  attendance, 
sparing  of  her  questions,  and  quite  an  invalu- 
able nurse.  I  saw  no  other,  but  I  had  ano- 
ther, more  efficient,  though  less  apparent.  I 
early  suspected  this,  by  little  attentions  to  my 
comfort  more  refined  than  I  could  expect  from 
a  mere  villager.  I  concluded  some  greater  per- 
son in  the  vicinity  had  taken  an  interest  in  my 


DE    LISLE.  311 

fate ;  but,  as  every  thing  was  given  me  in  the 
name  of  the  Martignis,  I  held  my  curiosity 
indiscreet,  and  repressed  it. 

"  As  I  grew  better  able  to  distinguish  sounds, 
and  as  they  became  less  frequent  from  the  di- 
minution of  my  visitors,  I  fancied  a  soft  step 
would  sometimes  steal  along  the  corridor  that 
went  behind  the  head  of  my  bed,  and  linger  at 
my  door.  Dame  Martigni  frequently  received 
something  when  it  gently  unclosed,  and  it  was 
not  lost  upon  me  that  this  gliding  person  was 
also  a  silent  one.  Every  one  else  spoke  as  they 
delivered  in  the  nourishment  or  medicine ;  this 
one  never.  All  my  inquiries  proving  abortive, 
I  concluded  my  charitable  visitor  would  not  be 
known,  and  was  obliged  to  content  myself  with 
profiting  by  her  kindness. 

"  When  I  was  able  to  crawl  out  of  my  room, 
Dame  Martigni  led  me  to  a  balcony,  at  the 
end  of  which  a  rustic  seat  sheltered  me  from 
the  sun.  A  little  table  was  placed  there,  co- 
vered with  books  and  writing  materials.  When 
left  alone,  I  examined  the  drawer  of  my  pretty 
little  table,  in  which  I  found  a  black  shagreen 
case.  I  opened  it,  and  found  fixed  on  each 
side  a  miniature  one  :  representing  a  middle- 
aged  man,  covered  with  decorations  and  orders  ; 


312  DE    LISLE. 

the  other,  a  woman  simply  dressed,  holding  in 
her  hand  a  crucifix,  on  which  she  appeared  to 
gaze  with  wild  and  melancholy  earnestness. 
The  air  of  these  persons  convinced  me  they 
were  no  relatives  to  my  host  or  my  kind  nurse, 
and  I  seized  the  first  opportunity  of  asking 
whom  they  represented.  Dame  Martigni  looked 
at  them  for  a  moment  with  reverence  ;  there 
was  a  tear  in  her  eye  as  she  replied, 

"  '  They  were  my  master  and  mistress  :  in 
their  house  I  was  born,  and  while  they  lived,  I 
never  knew  sorrow.  My  master  was  guillo- 
tined early  in  the  days  of  trouble.  My  mis- 
tress sought  refuge  in  a  foreign  land,  whither  I 
followed  her  :  she  was  prevailed  upon  to  return 
to  Paris,  where  she  died  of  grief.  I  then  came 
to  live  with  my  nephew,  and  took  his  name  to 
avoid  observation.' 

'*  '  And  what,'  said  I,  '  could  you  fear  from 
observation  .?' 

*'  '  Nothing  for  myself:'  she  paused,  and 
added,  '  I  was  connected  with  those  whose 
best  safeguard  was  concealment : — though  things 
do  seem  settled  now,  I  do  not  like  to  trust  to 
them.'" 


DE    LISLE.  S13 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

"  Ouii  conversation  was  interrupted  by  loud 
huzzas  from  the  villagers.  My  balcony  com- 
manded a  view  above  the  mouldering  walls  into 
a  field,  where  I  now  saw  numbers  assembled. 
Their  shouts  were  so  clamorous,  I  could  dis- 
tinguish nothing  accurately  but  one  name  oftea 
repeated  by  the  crowd. 

"  '  What  can  they  want  of  Eugenie  !'  cried 
the  dame  in  evident  alarm,  and  at  this  moment 
a  turret- window  was  opened,  and  on  the  nar- 
row broken  platform  before  it  stood  a  slender 
white  figure,  who,  waving  her  hand  to  those  be- 
low, asked  in  an  accent  very  different  to  the 
patois  of  Dame  Ma;rtigni  and  her  family,  what 
they  wanted  of  her. 

"  '  We  bring  you  good  news,'  cried  one. 

*'  *  Your  law- suit  is  undertaken,'  cried  a 
second. 

VOL.   I.  p 


314  DE    LISLE. 

"  '  Come  down  and  hear,'  said  a  third ;  and 
the  white  figure  immediately  disappeared. 

"  I  turned  to  speak  to  the  dame,  but  she  was 
gone ;  and  presently  I  saw  her  standing  in  the 
field  beside  the  white  lady,  who  was  now  com- 
pletely veiled,  and,  at  any  rate,  too  far  off  for 
me  to  distinguish  her  features.  This  was  Eu- 
genie De  St.  Clair,  the  last  of  a  noble  house, 
but  who  then  was  content  to  lead  the  life  of  a 
rustic,  and  receive  her  daily  bread  from  her 
foster-mother.  To  her  belonged  the  table 
placed  for  my  use  on  the  balcony,  and  her 
parents  were  the  individuals  pourtrayed  in  the 
shagreen  case.  Her  mother  died  before  she 
could  bring  her  affairs  to  any  sort  of  conclu- 
sion ;  and  Eugenie,  young,  timid,  and  destitute, 
was  hurried  by  her  humble  friend  into  the 
country,  till  she  should  be  old  enough  to  take 
some  active  part  in  her  own  concerns. 

"  Money  to  pursue  her  claims  was  wanting, 
but  chance,  or  rather  Providence,  had  raised 
her  up  a  powerful  friend.  He  urged  her  cause 
as  one  of  justice,  for  he  knew  her  not ;  and 
when  a  trial  was  granted,  the  counsel  refused 
the  offered  fee,  declaring  that  he  would  take 
it  only  if  his  young  client  was  successful.  This 
intelligence  was -meant  only  for  Eugenie,  but 


DE    LISLE.  315 

had  been  communicated  by  the  messenger  sent 
to  her,  at  the  Httle  alehouse  in  the  village,  to 
all  who  happened  to  be  present.  It  flew  like 
wildfire,  and  every  one  was  eager  to  be  the 
first  to  greet  their  young  favourite  with  the 
news. 

"  In  no  country  is  the  body  of  the  people 
more  enthusiastic  than  in  France.  Easily  ex- 
cited, they  may  be  led  to  fearful  excesses,  but 
they  will  rush  of  their  own  accord  to  acts  of 
feeling  and  sensibility.  Their  impressions  are 
very  keen,  and  succeed  each  other  rapidly ; 
they  are  consequently  versatile  and  easily  de- 
ceived. Their  attachments  are  so  many  pas- 
sions, and  their  affection  an  idolatry,  that  with  • 
us  is  often  thought  affectation  or  servility,  for 
want  of  duly  considering  the  wide  difference 
between  our  national  character  and  theirs. 

"  By  the  transports  with  which  Eugenie  was 
received,  a  stranger  would  have  taken  her  for 
the  universal  benefactress  of  the  circle  in  which 
she  stood ;  yet  was  she  poor  almost  as  the 
poorest,  and,  in  case  of  a  favourable  change  in 
her  circumstances,  was  altogether  unlikely  to 
remain  among  them,  and  be  enabled  to  benefit 
them.  I  thought  not  then  of  all  this  :  I  saw 
only  a  stranger  in  a  situation  both  peculiar  and 


316  DE    LISLE. 

toucbing.  She  was  the  object  of  universal  in- 
terest, and  the  voice  of  the  multitude  is  never 
without  its  influence  on  the  human  heart.  I 
was  prepared  to  sympathize  with  her  good  for- 
tune long  before  I  knew  in  what  it  consisted. 
When  at  last  the  crowd  had  dispersed,  Eu- 
genie accompanied  the  dame  to  the  balcony. 
There  were  steps  at  the  farther  end,  to  which  I 
had  crawled  to  have  a  better  view  of  the  scene 
below.  Eugenie  approached  them ;  I  trembled 
lest  she  should  pass  on.  In  my  weak  state,  the 
transactions  of  the  morning  were  events  replete 
with  emotion.  I  could  have  thanked  her  as  she 
mounted  the  steps,  but  I  did  not  know  how, 
and  was  silent. 

"  She  addressed  me  in  the  simplest  phrase  of 
congratulation  on  my  convalescence.  I  won- 
dered I  had  never  before  admired  the  French 
language ;  in  her  mouth  it  was  so  full  of  grace 
and  elegance  and  feeling.  I  replied  awkwardly 
enough,  for  it  was  new  to  me  to  lose  my  self- 
possession.  Dame  Martigni  recommended  my 
returning  to  my  seat,  as  I  looked  fatigued. 
Eugenie  offered  not  to  assist  me ;  so,  leaning  on 
the  railing  and  my  good  nurse,  I  moved  feebly 
on,  looking  sometimes  at  the  lady,  who  was 
doing  her  best  to  accommodate  her  pace  to  ours. 


DE    LISLE.  317 

"  Her  firm  tranquil  step  was  not  indeed 
much  more  like  that  of  her  companion,  than 
was  her  smooth  brow  and  glossy  hair  like  the 
shrivelled  face  and  scanty  grey  locks  of  the 
venerable  dame.  I  was  lost  in  wonder  when  I 
remembered  that  Mademoiselle  De  St.  Clair  had 
lived  so  long  with  the  Martignis,  seeing  only 
their  associates,  and  adopting  even  their  attire. 
Except  the  long  veil  that  hung  on  her  arm, 
her  dress  was  that  of  a  peasant ;  and  the  tan 
and  freckles  that  would  have  spoiled  any  other 
complexion  than  hers,  showed  how  few  were 
the  precautions  she  took  against  the  power  of 
the  sun.  Yet  had  she  preserved  an  air  and 
manner  that  spoke  of  times  past :  a  lofty  mild- 
ness that  forgot  not  noble  birth  in  the  very  lap 
of  poverty :  a  serious  smile,  that  showed  though 
grief  had  passed  away  it  was  not  forgotten. 

"  When  she  looked  down,  (and  her  bending 
head  and  shoulders  were  more  graceful  than  a 
poet's  dream,)  she  reminded  one  of  the  Italian's 
famous  picture  of  the  Madonna,  so  soft,  so 
pure,  so  holy  was  the  expression  of  her  counte- 
nance ;  when  she  raised  her  dark  blue  eyes,  and 
spoke  to  you,  it  was  another  face,  intelligence, 
energy,  decision,  tempered  by  natural  sweet- 
ness and   acquired   courtesy.      Her  form  and 

p3 


318  DE    LISLE. 

features  had  the  freshness  of  extreme  youth  ; 
but  her  manner,  self-possessed  and  serious, 
convinced  you  that  she  had  seen  and  suffered 
too  much  for  such  tender  years. 

"  Well !  all  this  avails  not  now,  I  meant  but 
to  relate  the  bare  facts.  I  could  not  get  Eu- 
genie to  give  me  as  much  of  her  society  as  I 
expected,  considering  that  she  had  no  one  else 
on  whom  to  bestow  it,  and  that  I  was  in  need  of 
some  change.  When  I  hinted  this,  she  sent 
me  the  list  of  her  books  ;  observing  that  they 
were  to  her  in  lieu  of  conversation,  and  might 
therefore  be  as  useful  to  me :  she  added, 

'"• '  You  must  not  forget  that  in  my  country 
a  single  woman  is  not  expected  to  furnish 
amusement  in  society  ; — that  is  left  solely  to  the 
matrons/  Accordingly,  a  daily  visit  of  a  few 
minutes  in  company  with  the  dame,  was  all  I 
could  obtain.  By  degrees  they  were  lengthened. 
I  beguiled  her  into  some  curiosity  about  the  man- 
ners of  the  East,  and  of  England,  and  I  believe 
the  one  appeared  to  her  as  strange  as  the  other. 
Then  I  talked  of  France,  and  found  her  but  too 
conversant  with  the  horrors  of  a  Revolution,  of 
which,  though  she  had  seen  but  little,  she  had 
suffered  much.  Of  the  companions  of  her 
childhood,  scarce  one  had  escaped,  and  the  re- 


DE    LISLE.  319 

bound  of  these  dreadful  strokes  reached    her 
with  fatal  force. 

"  When  she  related  a  tale  of  woe,  and  too 
many  such  had  fallen  under  her  own  eye,  she 
added  no  comment,  she  made  use  of  no  exag- 
gerated phrase,  she  did  not  paint  sorrow  other- 
wise than  by  facts;  but  her  pale  cheek,  her 
throbbing  breast,  her  uncertain  voice,  showed 
rather  that  she  was  sparing  the  sensibility  of 
others,  than  that  she  herself  was  deficient  in 
it.  And,  oh  !  why  could  not  you  have  seen  her, 
Hubert,  when  some  noble  deed,  some  generous 
trait,  some  glorious  sacrifice,  was  discussed  ! 
How  her  eye  kindled,  her  colour  rose,  her  tones 
of  varied  exultation  sunk  at  last  to  passionate, 
tenderness  ! 

"  Yet  was  it  not  every  thing  that  is  esteemed 
great,  that  won  from  "her  the  tribute  of  admi- 
ration. She  often  recounted,  as  an  act  of  mere 
justice,  what  many  would  have  thought  one 
of  magnanimity.  She  told  of  danger  incurred 
for  objects  of  attachment,  not  as  instances  of 
courage,  either  surprising  or  meritorious,  but 
as  simple  and  necessary,  though  interesting 
exertions. 

"  The  lofty  heroism  of  Eugenie  De  St.  Clair 
was  tempered  by  a  spirit  of  piety  equally  pro- 


320  DE    LISLE. 

found  and  rational.  The  consciousness  of  talent, 
the  pride  of  elevated  sentiments,  could  not  mis- 
lead one  who  never  for  a  moment  forgot  who 
conferred  them  both.  Even  had  she  felt  her 
superiority,  such  was  her  good  taste  that  she 
would  never  have  betrayed  it;  but  she  was 
too  pure  not  to  be  humble  also.  Having  no 
one  with  whom  to  compare  herself,  she  thought 
only  of  her  disadvantages,  and  magnified  into 
defects  the  slightest  things  that  fell  short  of  her 
high  notions  of  duty.  I  soon  learned  to  read 
that  guileless  heart  more  accurately  than  its 
possessor.  You  may  imagine  with  what  de- 
licious emotion  I  first  discovered  there  a  sen- 
timent unacknowledged  to  herself.  No,  you 
cannot  imagine, — you  do  not  know  what  it  is 
to  be  the  first  and  only  object  to  the  pure 
unconscious  being  who  would  blush  to  feel  her 
own  deep  devotion;  you  do  not  know  how 
much  more  fondly  we  love  here,  one  we  hope 
to  love  hereafter  ! 

"  My  strength  was  nearly  returned,  and  I 
could  devise  a  thousand  excuses  for  detaining 
Eugenie  at  my  side.  She  made  not  one  her- 
self, but  she  accepted  mine.  She  no  longer 
talked  of  France,  or  asked  me  questions  about 
India;  it  was  my  country,  my  home,  my  family 


DE    LISLE,  321 

that  occupied  her.  She  made  me  describe  my 
sister  in  every  way,  her  appearance,  her  man- 
ners, her  occupations ;  and,  though  eager  to 
approve,  she  listened  to  my  eulogium  of  Isa- 
bella, as  if  she  missed  something,  and  waited 
till  I  should  put  the  finishing  stroke  to  a  cha- 
racter so  estimable.  She  waited  in  vain,  for 
I  could  not  lend  enthusiasm  or  sensibility  to 
my  sister,  not  even  to  please  my  beautiful  Eu- 
genie. She  could  not  comprehend  my  asser- 
tion that  Isabella's  lot  was  not  an  enviable 
one.     She  asked  what  she  could  require  more. 

" '  Has  she  not  a  home,   a  name,  a  family  ? 
Is  she  not  amiable  and  religious  ?     How  can 
she   miss   happiness   that  presents  itself  in   so  . 
many  shapes  to  her  ?' 

"  I  spoke  of  domestic  vexations  and  consti- 
tutional low  spirits;  but  Eugenie,  accustomed 
to  think  of  no  evil  so  much  as  the  want  of 
protection,  thought  any  parent  must  be  delight- 
ful :  and  when  I  said  that  mine  loved  not  my 
poor  sister,  she  exclaimed  with  animation: — 
'  But  she  has  you  ;"*  and  she  looked  as  if 
she  thought  that  must  be  enough  to  content 
her. 

"  You  will  think  it  perhaps  strange,  that  I 
should  have  let  so  many  opportunities  pass  by. 


32^  DE    LISLE. 

of  extorting  from  Eugenie  a  confession  of  her 
tenderness,  and  acknowledging  my  own ;  but 
I  was  so  perfectly  happy,  so  fearful  of  break- 
ing the  deceitful  calm  in  which  she  reposed, 
of  seeing  her  conscious  cheek  lose  the  delicate 
colouring  of  entire  serenity,  and  her  eloquent 
eyes  averted  in  fear  of  meeting  mine,  that  I 
scarce  ventured  to  move,  lest  a  breath  should 
dissolve  the  spell  that  bound  us. 

*'  Dame  Martigni  had  told  me  that  if  her  affairs 
were  so  arranged  as  to  make  her  independent, 
her  mother  had  wished  her  either  to  join  her 
funds  to  those  of  some  other  noble  and  impo- 
verished exile,  or  to  enter  some  convent  abroad, 
merely  as  a  residence,  but  on  no  account  to  pro- 
nounce the  vows  without  a  sincere  vocation. 
'  Mademoiselle  De  St.  Clair,"*  she  said,  '  did  not 
dislike  the  idea  of  a  cloister  she  might  quit ;  but 
was  too  fond  of  liberty  and  light  to  have  any 
desire  to  bury  herself  in  one  for  life.'  In  any 
way  her  prospect  of  comfort  was  so  small,  that 
I  did  not  think  she  would  sacrifice  much  by  ac- 
companying me  to  England,  though  I  did  not 
half  like  scaring  her  with  the  notion  of  our 
union,  before  she  was  thoroughly  reconciled  to 
my  heresy,  which,  early  in  our  acquaintance, 
had  been  a  subject  of  much  disquiet  to  her. 


DE    LISLE.  8SS 

"  One  day  that  I  had  in  vain  sought  her  in 
all  our  favourite  walks,  and  even  ventured  to 
knock  at  her  own  door  without  success,  I  asked 
anxiously  of  my  host  what  had  become  of  her. 
He  only  knew  she  was  walking;  and,  much  dis- 
turbed that  she  should  have  gone  out  without 
me,  I  almost  ran  in  the  direction  pointed  out, 
and  arrived  breathless  at  the  door  of  the  village 
church.  I  went  in,  and  beheld  Eugenie  at  the 
humble  altar,  not  merely  kneeling,  but  nearly 
prostrate,  on  the  pavement :  her  attitude  de- 
noted the  earnestness  of  supplication,  I  almost 
feared  of  grief  also ;  but  I  could  not  approach 
her  at  such  a  moment,  unless  invited  to  join 
my  prayers  with  hers. 

"It  was  some  time  before  she  arose  ;  and 
when  sne  came  forward,  I  was  shocked  at  her 
countenance.  Anguish,  indeed,  was  gone,  but 
it  too  plainly  had  been  there — tears,  too,  had 
ceased  to  flow,  but  they  had  stained  her  cheek 
and  clouded  her  soft  clear  eye.  She  was  quite 
composed,  and  there  was  no  fluctuation  on  her 
pale  cheek :  the  storm  had  been  there — been 
struggled  with  and  overcome.  She  smiled 
faintly  when  she  saw  me — it  was  still  the  smile 
of  tenderness,  but  hope  and  joy  had  fled.  I  was 
too  much  bewildered  to  speak.     We  went  out 


324  DE    LISLE. 

of  the  church  ;  I  sat  down  upon  a  tombstone, 
and  made  room  for  her  beside  me.  She  looked 
upon  the  grave,  and  her  features  lost  some  of 
their  calmness  as  she  said,  '  It  is  a  good  rest- 
ing-place ;'  but  instantly  making  an  effort  to 
speak  in  her  natural  way,  she  gathered  some 
flowers  and  asked  me  to  help  her  to  make  a 
garland.  We  continued  to  weave  it  in  silence. 
At  last,  in  a  quick  clear  tone,  she  said, 

"  Do  you  know  there  is  good  news  for  you  ? 
I  have  seen  your  captain,  and  his  ship  is  in  such 
a  state  of  forwardness,  that  he  hopes  to  sail  next 
week.  You  have  been  so  long  from  home,  and 
are,  no  doubt,  so  anxiously  expected,  that  such 
intelligence  cannot  be  otherwise  than  pleasant.' 

^*  Eugenie's  self-possession  did  not  desert  her 
while  she  spoke,  but  she  bent  her  head  over 
the  flowers,  and  I  could  see  the  hand  that  held 
them  tremble.  Was  this  then  her  grief.''  I 
could  have  uttered  a  cry  of  joy  at  the  convic- 
tion, but  T  restrained  myself,  and,  scarce  know- 
ing what  I  said,  I  asked,  since  she  had  so 
speedily  disposed  of  me,  what  she  meant  to  do 
with  herself.?  She  raised  her  beautiful  eyes  to 
Heaven  as  if  she  had  said,  '  That  yet  remains 
to  me,'  and  calmly  answered, 
f 


DE    LISLE.  325 


cc 


'  I  shall  fulfil  my  mother''s  wish,  and  devote 
myself  to  God.'  '  You  will  not  take  the  veil  ?' 
'  Why  not  ?  What  should  I  leave  ?'  '  One, 
my  Eugenie,'  I  said,  '  whose  love  you  should 
not  have  doubted  ;'  and  from  that  moment  she 
never  did  doubt  it;  and  when  at  last  I  re- 
ceived her  faith  at  the  altar,  and  thought  with 
what  pride  I  should  present  my  beautiful  bride 
to  my  father,  I  deeply  felt  that,  beloved  and 
honoured  as  she  would  doubtless  be,  she  would 
never  be  prized  as  she  deserved." 

Lionel  paused,  and  turned  on  his  friend  a 
look  of  former  years  :  the  animation  that  found 
its  way  to  every  breast ;  the  smile  of  gladness 
that,  like  a  sunbeam,  irradiated  all  on  whom 
it  fell,  once  more  returned  with  all  its  native 
brightness ;   and,  though  but  the  reflection    of 
the  past,  was  still  glorious  and  beautiful.     The 
expression  indeed  was  fleeting,  and  gave  place 
to  one  of  more  than  usual  dejection  ;  but  it  went 
to   the   heart   of  De    Lisle,    for   he  now   felt 
that  it  was  not  time   alone   that   had  altered 
Lionel. 

END    OF    THE    URST    VOLUME. 


LONDON : 
PRINTED    BY    S.   AND    R.    BENTLEY,    DORSET   STREET. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILUN0I9-URBANA 


■^ 


3  0112  046414162 


^  ^>>^< 


-y' 


^. 


--^/ 


>.* 


V^. 


&«n- 


4i'S 


I-' 


yr 


r  M" 


^i?.;^  ■,;■ 


^. 


/ 


